The Making of a Kage
by Shadenight123
Summary: Without the Uchiha as a police force, a new police comes from the land of iron, the Mafia. Naruto at age six ends up entering said world, and his attitude drastically improves. Not overpowered Naruto, but Smart Naruto. Not too Emo Sasuke. NaruHina. Team NaruHinaSasu Anime/manga picks casual. Story on hold for a while. Sorry guys
1. A change in Growth

**Premises: The mafia described is the one taken through the idealistic ideas that were born together with it, (post-feudal Sicily) not the one were kids get dissolved in acid (look Wikipedia for more). Keep that in mind. Second point: these are Italian-American Mafiosi styled, and the clan/bloodlines are organized on a Vampire the Requiem/masquerade mix-mash, but only the references are taken, it is *not* a crossover of the two, there are no vampires in here.**

**It is my first attempt at a Naruto fiction, though please be nice of beginner's mistakes of any sort on the use of jutsus/similar. And also…well, review? (End chapter for dictionary)**

First Chapter

Naruto Uzumaki stood proudly, at age six, with his spiked blond hair and diabolical grin, on top of the fourth Kage's head, nestled at the far right, or left depending on the angle of view, of the mountain that surrounded for one fourth the village of Konoha. He was grinning because his objective had been completed perfectly during the night, without any ANBU squad or any interruption from Iruka-sensei or Hokage-Jiji. So, he was there, waiting for someone to wake up and realize that yes, the monuments now sported a beautiful new makeup of red and orange paint. Dressed in his orange jumpsuit, he certainly wouldn't be easily missed: if the people kept talking on his back, then now, maybe, they'd speak to him in the front, even if it were more insults and yelling about a demon.

* * *

Francesco Giovanni, of the blood clan Gangrel, was being late, as always. Not that it mattered to him in the slightest, as the combined marriage he was going to be forced in by the godfather wasn't actually pleasant in his ears, nor in his eyes. Sure, he could have refused, but he didn't want to make the daughter of one of the godfather's councilman upset, and an upset daughter usually means an upset father. So, when he left the Giovanni's small apartment complex in the Corleone compound, he was already thinking about a way to be damn late, but not so much as to be punished. Looking with a glint of hope upwards, towards the sky hoping for god's sign, he saw a shocking sight: the Hokage's monuments had been defiled, and since he certainly hadn't known of any of the Corleone's honorable men to do it, then it simply meant that somebody had played it as a prank, rather than as an intimidation. Still, it could turn detrimental to the Corleone, and thus to the Godfather, and being the first one awake, barring the half-asleep guards of the night shift, that were just then returning home, he grinned slightly, at the thought of having found an excuse for being late once more.

* * *

Naruto watched as the city began bustling with life, as he was sitting down on top of the fourth's rocky head, while whining.

"Why aren't they looking up? I mean, it's the Hokage's monuments!" he muttered, then started rummaging through his pouch, maybe a loud noise, like a set of firecrackers, could work? As his search produced out a small red firework, a shadow loomed over his back.

The blond-haired boy felt himself being pulled upwards with relative ease by a strong grasp, and pushed backwards, towards the dirt road that had been leveled behind the heads, to grant safe passage for the workers when they built atop the mountain.

"So," a crisp male voice spoke, belonging to a stocky, but well built, man with short raven hair and brown eyes, his skin slightly tanned by the sun, a long leather coat opened up to reveal a suit, that certainly seemed to be tailored for a special occasion, with a bright red tie, his leather shoes were also polished, a fact that Naruto came to realize because the strength of being pushed back had brought him down on his ass, "What is the meaning of this?"

The man asked as he pointed with his right hand that seemed to have an old golden watch on it, to the empty cans of paint, Naruto had never seen the man before, but he knew that, since he didn't have the same skin complexion as the others in the village, he had to be one of the Corleone's henchmen.

The boy had heard the story from the owner of Ichiraku's ramen, Teuchi, in a whisper: basically, after the Uchiha had been deemed traitors, for having tried to overthrow the Kage, it had been decided to punish them all and remove them from the city, but in doing so, a need for a new sort of police had come into play, the Corleone's Godfather, that was how they called their family leader, had offered to protect the village, in exchange for a small money prize and the permission to settle down in the village with his family. The Mafia, how they called themselves in the ensemble, or *Cosa Nostra*, our thing, had settled in from the land of Iron, renowned for their usually strictly neutral aspects.

Naruto gulped heavily, not knowing what to say, he had thought about either Iruka or an Anbu to track him down in a chase run around the city, the fact that a Mafia guard had found him was a different thing all together. Those guys were scarier than the Uchiha, not because they were strong di per se, but because they had no qualms in bringing retribution, some times without even resorting to speak with the Kage about the matter. He could run, certainly, but he couldn't hide, or escape, as once the man reported him, and his description, he'd be mercilessly hunted and then probably grabbed in the night and brought in for excruciating tortures, regardless of his age, since such was the reputation of the Corleone's.

"I asked you a question." The man muttered once more, moving closer to him with a small jump that however enabled him to cover a slightly bigger distance, thanks to having placed Chakra in his feet.

Mafia members weren't banned from entering the ninja academy, but many simply preferred their *civilian* training and their family ones, this didn't mean that there weren't ninjas among them, or that there weren't among the Konoha's forces, just that Naruto knew that he was now screwed, even the chance of running was barred out immediately, triple-barred with red and black markers.

"I…I wanted to play a prank on the village." Naruto muttered staring to his side and clenching his fists, there, now he was going to get a sound and strong beating and then be brought to a swift and excruciating Mafia justice, he simply knew it.

"And nobody detected you while you were coloring the monuments?" Francesco asked curious, now, either this village of ninjas had a very relaxed attitude, being it a peace period, or he actually had to talk to the Brujahs for what the hell they were guarding, if they couldn't even see a damn mountain getting colored over the night. Sure, they had no byakugan, or sharingan, but for the love of god, it was a damn mountain!

"I'm good at hiding…" Naruto meekly replied, but shivered as he saw the man raise a hand, and instinctively moved his arms to protect his head.

Francesco stared at the trembling kid, heck, yes, the Corleone's had a reputation, but that didn't mean it was true, false news circling around the village had been the Daeva's side work, as a strong reputation was usually more than enough to stop the petty fights around the village, still there wasn't a reason for him to hit the kid.

"I see, how about you calm down now, _piccolo? _It's not like I'm going to hit you for what you did...though I am bringing you in to the Hokage's office," as Francesco said that, Naruto's eyes widened in surprise, especially when the man extended a hand to the kid, and muttered, "Now get up, let's dash it before someone else comes around..." as Naruto nodded, grabbing the hand, both the boy and the man didn't know just how much that meeting would change the future of Konoha.

What Giovanni discovered, however, was that the boy was quite able to prank him with an electrical shock form one of those stupid April's fool day things, as he discovered when both palms met, taking in the moment, the blond-spiked boy began running, hopelessly, because after recovering from the shock, Francesco was already on him, grabbing him by the neck with his right hand, and then dashing from there towards the Hokage's office.

* * *

In the Kage's office, Hiruzen Sarutobi had just received from an ANBU with a pig-faced mask the report on a defiling of the kage's monuments, together with the fact that a certain Naruto Uzumaki was found missing from the orphanage, and that, following this being the second transgression of the sort, he was going to be expelled from it. Obviously the Hokage knew that the reason was completely and utterly different from that, but couldn't help but sigh at the fact that the young boy would pretty soon have to change home once more. As he dismissed the ANBU, he had already made two plus two, coming to the realization that Naruto was the probable culprit, having taken on a prankster attitude as an answer to the people bullying him. He sighed as he shook his head, muttering to himself.

"How did it come to this? What should I do, fourth?" as he asked that, he stared at the monument from his window, defiled as it was, it looked like the fourth had gone through an excessive use of mascara and cherry-blossom lipstick, though this did make the Third Hokage chuckle for a moment, he reassumed a serious face when he heard the door being knocked, and his secretary, a young ninja woman called Akane, enter with her always serious face and raven hair tied behind her in a ponytail sort of way. She was wearing the usual one piece outfit that practically covered her entire body from the neck to well under the knees, and with a chuunin flak vest and the Konoha headband used as a belt.

"Hokage-sama, there's one of the Corleone's men who wishes to talk with you, he's with the…" the secretary didn't want to finish the sentence, but she spat out an angry, "the boy," and then bowed her head waiting for the Hokage's answer.

"Let them through, then." Probably the reason the ANBU hadn't captured the culprit immediately was that the new police force had done it first, at least, that was the trail of thought of the Hokage, as the secretary excused herself and led the two men in.

Sarutobi knew of Naruto, as Naruto did know of the Hokage personally, calling him *Jiji* most of the time, but the Hokage also knew of the man that had brought him in, one of the Wicked Claws of the Giovanni's.

"So, I take it he's the culprit for the debauchery of the Hokage's monuments?" as the Hokage asked that, he lit his pipe, staring with a slightly angered gaze at the boy, being held by the neck by the man of the Giovanni's family.

"Yes, and he worked at it all night long. I mean, no-one in his rightful mind works at something like that for the entire night and doesn't get caught; I'm speaking with the Brujah's chief once I'll have more time…right now I should be speaking with the Godfather and that… woman." As he shivered at the thought, the Hokage raised a skeptical eyebrow, judging by the trembling of the man, it seemed like he hadn't at all fear of Naruto as a Jinchuriki, so, either he didn't know about it, or nobody actually talked about it to him, which would mean the S-secret and threat of death worked on the population, a too idiotic thought to even consider though, so it was more probable he either knew and didn't care, which was strange, or he feigned being calm and that was strange too.

"I see, well, you can let go of the kid then, I'll take it from here." As the Hokage said that, Francesco coughed slightly, letting the boy gently on the floor, where he stood back up and massaged his neck, held in the iron grip of the man for a while.

"Well, since I might be a bit late, would it be possible to have a…paper stating it? So I don't get hanged by my feet from the Don's window?" as the man asked that, the Hokage sighed and nodded.

"Speak with the secretary; we have a set of them without a name because of Kakashi-sensei, so we keep a lot around, already signed and all."

"Sweet!" as Francesco said that, putting his hand into a fist and bringing it closer to his body, before starting to do a strange swing-swing dance, while moving outside.

"He's strange, Jiji, really strange." Naruto said, looking at the man leaving wide-eyed.  
"Naruto-kun, why are you still pulling off this sort of pranks? What happened?" as the Hokage asked that, he knelt to get at the same eye level of the boy, who turned his gaze sideways, and muttered:

"Nothing…"

"Naruto…"

"Fine!" he pouted rolling his eyes, "I was in class, and they kept throwing at me chalk pieces and erasers, so I yelled at them that I'd show them how a real prank was to be pulled at someone."

"So you pranked the monuments?" the Hokage muttered.

"I hoped it would be enough to make them stop. Last time I clogged the bathrooms of the school, they didn't harass me for a week." Naruto replied, before biting his tongue, "I mean! It's not like I had anything to do with it, it's just that, if it had been me, then I wouldn't…"

"Yes, I understand. I think a suitable punishment will be needed never the less, Naruto."

* * *

Francesco whistled happily, as he entered the Corleone's garden, just to be, obviously, grabbed by a double set of spiked chains and brought straight upwards, from where he was, all the way to the second floor of the compound, in the most up-beat and destructive way for his suit ever, as he repeatedly smashed against the walls of the mansion as he was brought up. As the wounds weren't grave enough, however, he was kindly invited to sit by the Don's wife into a comfortable bean filled cushion, with his knees. The small room they were in was one of those suitably prepared for marriage arrangements, he'd speak with the Don's wife, while his *wife* would speak with the Don himself, then the clan's head would decide for a yes, or a no.

"So…as you may, or may not know," The woman spoke carefully making her chained sickle rotate, being a Ninjutsu expert in the art of said weapon, she had no problem making it spin without harming in, but she did take a liking in casually cutting off edges of his hair, "the girl is my niece".

Maria Grazia Corleone was the current and only wife of the Don Gianfranco Bruzzo Corleone, and the tale of how they met referred to the times of the land of iron way of proposal, by fighting it off to the near death state. It was said that the only way the Don managed to actually defeat her was to trick her with his most famous Genjutsu, but the content of what the woman saw was something that the Don himself never told, even to others, nor did Maria Grazia, actually.

"She's the youngest of the children of my late deceased sister, who had two sons, and one girl, who is now a fine woman, and who I expect you to treat with gloves and respect," as she said that, she just so casually let the sickle fall down straight in front of him, and just so casually in between his legs, but the man hadn't flinched, heck, he was already paralyzed by fear, he wouldn't move even if his life depended on it, " You certainly have already received her picture, isn't she a beauty?" as the Don's wife asked that, Francesco's mind raced towards that sort of scarecrow like photo he had been given two years before, about a sort of square-faced monster born only out of the worst nightmares, something that not even the Devil himself would have the stomach to create.

"Yes." He replied with the most stoic face he could muster, he had to think of this as a mission, a mission to save his own life from a most horrible and utterly devastating death.

"What did you like, in particular, about her face?" as the Don's wife asked back with a gentle smile, Francesco was sweating heavily, thinking if he could dash out of the window and run his way back to the land of iron and to his great grandfather, hoping he was still alive and available to hide him.

"Eyes." He muttered once more, hoping it was the correct answer.

"You really liked her blue eyes, didn't you?" as Maria asked that, Francesco sighed.

"They were green. Her hair was auburn, and she had a slight case," as slight as defining the Konoha's mountain as a small hill, "of acne," on all of her face, "she had a jovial smile," half of teethes knocked out and the other half deformed, "and yes, I actually looked at the picture."

"Good! Then you're simply anxious because you can't wait any longer, right?" as she said that, Francesco sighed, bowing his head.

"Yes, Madame."

"Now, now, if I'm the wife's Aunt, you'll have to call me Aunt-in-law, right?"

_Auntinlaw? Huntin law? Hunting Law, hunt in low…never._

"Yes, Aunt…in-law" making sure to leave a certain amount of time between the first and the second part of the name.

"Good! Now just wait here while I go and talk with my husband." As Maria left the room, while taking back her sickle that she just casually began to rotate again, Francesco sighed in relief once more, staring out of the window, at the clouds moving lazily by, and kind of asked God why he had to go through this.

"Oh Kami, just let it be quick." As he muttered that, he heard a giggle coming from the other side of the door, and as he narrowed his eyes, he silently shook his head, and stared at the door.

"You can come in." he said with a clear voice, what he hadn't expected was a long-haired blond woman, with a slender frame, to come in nearly in the immediate, and falling down straight on her face, which revealed, once she got herself back into a sitting position, that she had clear green eyes, and a porcelain like face. She wore a sort of two piece green dress; the lower part being a dark green gown, while the upper one being a bright and covered in golden frills top, which kind of made her prominent qualities result a bit more, accentuated.

_THANKS PUBERTY!_

"So you're Francesco." As the girl said that matter of fact, with a determinate gaze and a stern look, Francesco changed his idea, maybe he was still in time for starting to run.

"You must be Elena, right?" as he asked that, after having nodded at her question, he tried his best gentle smile, but when he got nearly hit in the right leg by a small Tanto, all he could do was swiftly move to the side his leg, to avoid the short sword carving deeply into his muscle. She was swift, that much was certain.

"When I ask a question, I want a yes or a no, not a nod!" she snapped at him.

"When I ask a question, I want to be answered, not to be nearly killed." As Francesco replied that, he actually jumped backwards, and out of the window, and while falling downwards, he spun so as to have his feet touch the wall, and then jumped, just in time to avoid a barrage of small swords that ended with precision where he would have landed.

"Come back here you arrogant man!" the girl yelled at him, as she jumped down too, her gown slightly torn enough to grant her mobility, and the fact that she had removed her shoes to avoid sprained ankles.

"This was my best dress!" as she yelled that, she produced from one of her sleeves a Ninjato, and after throwing three kunai at the man, charged straight through to him, yelling.

Francesco sighed, as he swiftly finished the hand signs for the trademark Ninjutsu of the Gangrel bloodline:

"Claws of the Wild-Jutsu!" the effect of the said ninja technique was quite simple; it conjured Kunais sealed inside of the man's knuckles, and with a slight Genjutsu made them look like protuberances from their original digits, in such a way that the enemy usually ended up baffled as to why a set of claws actually managed to hit them from afar. Still, the reason he conjured that was for another reason than wounding the woman, he was pretty sure had he tried anything at all to graze her he'd end up dead, or at least half dead, and thus he disappeared into a puff of smoke when the first kunai hit him, as a replacement jutsu took effect.

"Where are you hiding!" Elena angrily muttered, "I am not going to marry a coward!"

"Who said anything about marrying a psychopath like you!" the voice came from behind one of the trees in the garden, so, as the woman charged straight towards it, she concentrated her chakra on the tip of the sword, to unleash one of her techniques.

"Shinkuken!" as Elena yelled the word to release her Kenjutsu technique, the next moment a strong wind blade departed from the tip of the blade, slashing through the well-kept garden of the Don, and cutting in two the tree behind which the woman thought Francesco was hiding.

To no avail, however, as the man didn't even seem to be there.

"Oh WHERE ARE YOU! WHERE DID YOU DAMN HIDE!" as she screamed once more, attracting even more people, she heard a whistle coming from behind her, and up above.

Sure enough, from the same window he had jumped down, there stood Francesco Giovanni, smiling at her and waving at her, while even sending her kisses with his hands.

A set of small dotted holes had appeared along the mansion's walls, were, unknown to her too concentrated on a slight Genjutsu, Giovanni had used his claws to climb back up, it might have been a dirty trick, but, after all, all is fair in love and war.

* * *

Naruto sighed, as his few belonging became even fewer: every time he moved from an orphanage to another, he lost something, like a spare set of clothes, or underwear, or a bag, and it never reappeared. Though just so casually another children was gifted something from the orphanage's headmistress the following days. As he was sitting in the park not knowing precisely what to do or where to go, the new orphanage had yet to be assigned, he saw an interesting scene taking place in front of him: a group of Genin were in the process of picking up the weeds that were literally growing in the park, but instead of doing the work seriously, they were playing ball. He watched them play in silence, hoping he wouldn't be disturbed or forced to leave anytime soon, as all he had at the present was the bench on which he was sitting down to catch his breath, and the small backpack next to him.

After a moment, in which he had taken his gaze downwards, to stare at his feet, a heavy object hit him straight in the face, sending him backwards. One of the Genins had kicked the ball strongly, but also with a bad aim, and had literally taken straight in the head the poor kid, whose nose had clearly been broken by such a brute display of force.

"Look at that! It's the demon child!" one of the Genins whispered to the other.

"Did we break his nose?" another one whispered.

"Who cares? Let's just get back my ball." The third one, and the one who had actually kicked the ball, ran to grab it, ignoring the clearly wounded kid who was letting go of a flow of tears while sit on the bench, his hand a mess of blood, tears and snot, as his nose was in a burning pain.

The Genins swiftly ignored him, instead going back to *play ball*, but, after a couple of minutes, they decided to play a new game to better control their chakras: enhance their feet with chakra and try to hit the demon kid.

The first blow actually missed Naruto, but it did squish his backpack, breaking anything it could possibly have inside, and sending him on a run away from the Genins who, however, swiftly pursued them while passing the ball one to the other.

As Naruto ran, holding his bleeding nose, he had no idea where to go to avoid the Genins, as if he ended up in the streets, they might mob him once more, and if he instead ran towards the Hokage's office, he might make it even worst. His only hope was to find a mafia guard, no matter how much he feared them, they were the only ones who actually dispersed the mobs and didn't look at him with anger, though indifference was more of a practical term. He could live with indifference, as long as he managed to get away.

The ball hit him with the strength of a brick on his lower left leg, shoving him on the ground, and making him scrape his hands and knees, as blood began seeping out from those wounds too.

Then the Genins were on him, and all he did was cover his head and wait for them to strike at him until they were tired, but as he trembled, he suddenly realized that nothing was happening, so he carefully looked behind him.

He had entered the Giovanni's compound in the Corleone's sector of the city, and as the Genin had pursued him in there, they had been swiftly dealt with by two big baseball bat-wielding brutes, who stared at them with a sort of angered look.

"Now listen here." The first of the two said, tapping with his bat on the ground, and making a small crater.

"This is the Giovanni's compound." The second replied, his muscles actually bulging as he did the same thing as his probable brother. They both had brown light hair that was tied behind them in a sort of pineapple way, scars and stiches covering their arms that were out in the open, as they were wearing some sort of short-sleeved red suit, and short beige pants.

"No ruckus is allowed in here." The first of them said, and as the Genin began nodding and moving backwards, the second lightly touched the ground, deforming it into a sphere of rock, that he threw high in the air.

"Batting Style: First STRIKE!", as the first said that, he actually slammed his baseball bat straight against the rock sphere, that flung itself forward, splitting into a set of smaller pebbles, that hit the back of the running Genin like a salt-charged gun would, sending them on their way with the parting gift.

Then the second turned to Naruto, who was shaking visibly, and stared at him with a puzzled expression for a moment.

"Hey Giacomo." He said to his probable twin/brother.

"What is it Gianni?" the other guy replied, turning around to stare at the boy.

"Should we bring him to _Ma'_ to get checked?"

"Yeah, I don't think a broken nose is going to fix itself alone." As Giacomo said that, putting his baseball bat on his back, he moved closer to Naruto, who scared tried to fumble backwards.

"Easy now, youngster, we're bringing you to the Corleone's medic, don't be scared, we don't eat children," Gianni mentioned, moving with more ease towards Naruto, and, when both men grabbed him by the shoulder, the two brothers stared at each other with a slight grin.

"At least, we don't, but I don't know about Mother." After having said that, they both began moving deeper into the compound, not minding a trying to escape Naruto, who still was thinking that he'd have more chances getting into a Konoha shop, from which he usually ended up being thrown out, rather than freeing himself from the two men's grip, but still, he had to try.

* * *

"So, as I was telling you, it was HER fault." As Francesco finished recalling the past events, Maria Grazia decided that maybe, just maybe, she wouldn't neuter him, yet. On the side next to him, Elena was slightly growling, sharpening a set of kunais, and just so casually playing with them.

"Listen Frankie," the male voice that spoke to Francesco was that of the Don, Gianfranco, and possibly the only man in the family, not considering his own mother, of course, that could use that nickname, "I'm pretty sure it was all one misunderstand among the two parts…so, how about we get this over with a solution that works for everyone? You'll be officially engaged for a period of a couple of years, and then, afterwards, you'll marry if you want to, or we'll produce another pair of candidates…this should also make Guccino," saying those words, Elena rolled her eyes over muttering something about an idiotic father, "calm down."

"I'll speak with him myself, as a _Consigliere_, I'm sure he'll understand." As Maria Grazia said that with a small smile, Francesco was about to do his swing-swing dance of victory, but refrained from doing so, instead bowing his head in understanding.

"I understand, Don Corleone, and do not worry; I'm sure everything will turn out fine." If he managed to keep out of touch for a couple of years, that was, maybe taking in some missions for the family? That would work.

"Then you are dismissed Frankie." As the Godfather said that, Francesco stood up, slightly bowing his head once more while muttering:

"_Baciamo le mani_," before jumping out of the window, and dashing away from roof to roof of the compound.

"So, what was your impression of him?" Maria Grazia asked her niece, who looked at the man's back while he was jumping out of the window.

"He does seem to have a head on his shoulders, and if he came here never the less after seeing that horrendous photo, he certainly must be loyal to the family…still, I know nothing about him except what you told me, I could stalk him a bit, now that I think about that." As the woman said that, she stood up, and, after hugging her aunt, left from the window too.

"Stalking instead of talking? Just who did you arrange that poor boy's marriage with?" as Don Gianfranco asked that, his wife replied with a small grin:

"Someone who could push him up to great deeds, at least, that's what I hope."

"He is *not* going to become the next Godfather, nor the Head of the Giovanni's family," as the godfather spoke that abruptly, he stood up once more, moving to leave the room with haste, "on the day when his parents married, I swore to his father that I'd never throw him into the den of the sharks, and I will keep that promise." He muttered clenching his teethes, before leaving.

* * *

"Ma'!" as Francesco yelled that, he descended swiftly on the street in front of his house, a two stores high, which had, on the ground level an herbalist shop, while on the upper level a medical clinic, small and not comparable to Konoha's hospital, but still useful in emergencies.

"Francesco!" the reply came simultaneously by two brutish individuals, who, behind the counter of the herbalist shop, had just finished packing up a powdered medicine for an elderly woman.

"Gianni, Giacomo, what are you two doing here? Where's Mother?" the man asked as he entered the, always in disorder, shop, filled with strange plants, powders, and herbs of various types minced in always different recipes.

"She's upstairs, tending to a boy that was being bullied pretty heavily, poor sod got the short end of the stick by three bullies." Giacomo muttered shaking his head.

"You didn't kill them, did you?" Francesco asked back, as he saluted the elderly buyer that left the shop, with an "_Arrivederci_."

"Nah, but we did teach them a lesson, they probably won't be able to sit down for a while," Gianni replied with a wide grin.

"Good. I'll go upstairs then." As he was about to leave, however, the two big men both placed an arm around his shoulders.

"Now, now, not so fast…how did the meeting with the horrendous square-faced monster forgotten by Kami go?" Gianni grinned so widely together with Giacomo that it seemed like the smile went from one face to the other.

"It went well, except she tried to wound me, neuter me, kill me, but got taken aback by a slight Genjutsu use." Francesco replied, producing however a small grin, "however I promised mother I'd speak with her first guys, and as you know, Wiseguys always keep their promises."

"No keeping you then, you'll tell us later at the Ichiraku's ramen." Giacomo said, as both he and his brother gave him a strong pat on the back, sending him on his way, but after a moment they suddenly turned around, and then stared at each other.

"Did I just imagine a strong killing intent?" Gianni asked his brother, who shook his head.

"Strange it's gone, I felt it too." He whispered back. Since, however, nothing happened, they both shrugged and got back to their work in the shop.

Francesco climbed the wooden stairs in the back of the shop that brought him up to the first floor, where he knocked on the first door to his right, and realizing it was opened, he entered just in time to see Ma', as she was called by everyone, treating a broken nose and a dislocated leg from…

"You're the boy!" Francesco exclaimed moving closer, as he swiftly received a hit in the stomach from the woman, already past her prime, with slightly grey hair and wrinkles near her eyes that were of a blue-ish hue. She didn't stand much tall, which made her hits at the stomach level even fiercer, especially because there was an unwritten rule in the family: if Ma' wants to hit you, then you get hit, otherwise you get hit twice and with a stronger force.

"Yesh." Naruto muttered, his nose having been set in position by the expert hands of the granny that was even then muttering something in a strangely thick accent of some sort to Francesco.

"Ma' told me that you've got quite a set of bruises on your body, how did you get them?" as the man asked that, he grabbed a chair, and sat down with a loud sigh of relief.

"Fell stairs." Naruto replied bitterly.

"She already ruled that out," Francesco replied with a chuckle, "You'd better not lie to her, trust me, last time someone tried, his tongue stood covered in soap for a week."

Naruto gritted his teethes, as the Ma' began applying a sort of wooden stick to his dislocated leg, sending chakra to flow through his vein to accelerate the healing process.

"I get hit by people. Thrown on the ground by people. Get picked on by people. People hate me for no reason I know of, and so I get beaten for no reason." Naruto muttered, staring at his hands that had the wounds on them already cleaned and disinfected.

"That's utterly stupid. Why would they do that?" Francesco replied, as he suddenly nodded to another outburst of strange dialectal words from the old woman.

"Ma' here says that one of our Brujah found your backpack, it had your name on it: so if you want you can go and collect it."

Another outburst of dialectal words, Naruto stared in curiosity at how the granny seemed to speak politely, even with words that seemed more insults than anything else.

"She also says that you need to rest for at least a couple of days, to avoid damaging your knee any more than it already is; do I have to warn your parents?" at those words, Naruto stiffened and stared down at his hands.

This time the old woman actually realized it without being told, and threw another hit at Francesco's head before he could do anything about it.  
"Ouch! What was that for, Ma'!"

"_A' Scimunito_!" followed by another set of words that made Francesco nod, while holding the side of the head where he had been hit.

"Ma' here says that you can stay here how much you want." Having said those words, Naruto's eyes widened.

"Really?" he asked, hesitantly.

"Yes, she said that she's going to go speak with the Godfather himself…" having said that, he stared at the elder woman grabbing a sort of straw hat, a walking cane, and moving outside with a small purse under her arm, a shawl on her back. Then she swiftly left, as angry as only an elderly woman could ever be.

"What was she saying?" Naruto asked, not having understood a word.

"Grow older, and then, maybe, I'll explain it to you." Francesco replied nodding like he had just said a pearl of wisdom to be remembered for the ages to come.

"I see…but I'll be fine by tomorrow, really. I heal pretty fast…and the Hokage was planning to move me to another orphanage soon, so…" as he said that with a hint of nervousness, sadness, and a mixture of anxiety, Francesco sighed, and then chuckled.

"You know, nobody stops Ma' from doing something. In her times, it was said that even Mifune of the land of Iron wouldn't dare cross her path when she as angry, rolling pin in hand." Then he began laughing hard at the thought, and Naruto, not understanding, chuckled too.

"It's strange: Nobody has still kicked me or hit me, or called me demon boy or demon," he muttered.

"Why the name demon?" Francesco queried.

"Well, I was born the same night the Kyuubi attacked Konoha, so they took me as a sign of misfortune." Naruto replied, to which Francesco gave it a thought, before nodding in silence and replying:

"Then you ain't risking anything from the Corleone's boy: the majority of us arrived here after the slaughter of the Uchiha clan, as *replacement* for the security of the village. That was years after the Kyuubi attacked Konoha."

"I've got to ask, Onii-chan, why don't you have a head protector?" Naruto queried, a bit puzzled, to which Francesco stopped for a moment, before mentally shrugging and answering.

"Well, we come from the Land of iron, but the Don didn't want us to stay here as mere mercenaries, but as people that actually wanted to stay and live and grow in this land. Thus he spoke with his father, who approved of the idea he had: we'd remove the iron land head protector, and move in as *civilians*, and then, eventually, our children would enter the Konoha school and academy, thus becoming an actual clan inside of the city. The Hokage approved of this, since he got himself a police force, new shinobis and kunoichis, and an increase in the population, all in exchange of letting us rule our inner problems thanks to the Godfather."

"What's a Godfather?" Naruto asked.

"The Godfather? He's like the Kage of Konoha, only he's the head of all the families. To say, imagine an enormous tree. One wooden trunk that decides and solves disputes for everyone else, is the Godfather, then it separates into branches that are the main bloodlines: Gangrel, Daeva, Ventrue, Mekhet and Nosferatu. Out of the bloodlines, there are different families, that make the tiniest branches still, so for example, of the Gangrel side there are the Giovanni and the Brujah, the latter being the strong armed guards of Konoha, while the former as myself am, being the enforcers of the will of the Godfather. I could go on and explain it all to you, but it's a long story, and I'm sure you're hungry if I'm hearing your stomach rumbling correctly, so, since we're both free for lunch, what would you like to eat?" as he asked the question with relative ease, Naruto replied swiftly:

"Ichiraku's ramen!"

"Not you too," Francesco muttered rolling his eyes, before adding, "we'll go there tonight, if I can get Ma' to accept having you carried piggyback by one of the two Brujahs. Till then, I'll have to make lunch, anything you particularly would like to eat?" adding swiftly once more, "That is not ramen."

"Noodles in a beef soup with egg yolk?" Naruto asked hesitantly.

"That's still ramen!" Francesco exclaimed, shaking his head, "Fine, I'll prepare the _Tagliatelle alla Carbonara_, then we will see what you prefer afterwards."

* * *

The Hokage stared at the sudden arrival of the Godfather, who had appeared into his office forming from a strange mist, a technique unique to the Corleone's bloodline.

"I must ask, why the sudden barging in?" the Kage queried, his pipe already lit, as he stared at Don Gianfranco, he couldn't help but see that the man had a set of big violet bruises on his bald head, a strange sight, considering the Godfather probably rivaled him in power.

"I've received…pressures, to ask if you wouldn't mind letting a certain boy, named Naruto Uzumaki, to be adopted by Ma' Giovanni." As he said that, the Hokage flinched.

"Ma' Giovanni? The only woman who made Mifune change the side of the street in which he walked if she was angry?" he had to be sure.

"Precisely."

"What happened?" Hiruzen was curious about the all ordeal, and once the Godfather explained it to him in a few words, about how the boy had ran inside the Corleone's compound after being pursued by three Genins, who had been warned not to come back, and about how he was pretty bloodied and had been brought to Ma', Ma' had taken a liking to the boy and had decided that yes, she wasn't going to let the boy be left to himself and bullied to the death by others.

"And that's why I either go back with your approval on the matter, or I get out of the city with a flying carpet. Since flying carpets don't exist, please Hiruzen: let the Giovanni family adopt the boy."

The Konoha's Hokage took a deep breath from his pipe, and exhaled a big enough puff of smoke that was proportionate to the thoughts in his head. The Godfather too wasn't born yesterday, or the day before even, he knew something was wrong for the Hokage to take so much time, usually, if there was some promising youth that they wanted to adopt, they would literally be thrown into their hands, so why was that boy different? He'd have to query the Falcone family of the Nosferatu and the Galante family of the Mekhet to find out.

"Only if the boy accepts," was the reply of the Hokage, as he took another deep breath.

"Perfect, I'll prepare the paperwork. I doubt anyone would refuse Ma'. I certainly couldn't," as he said that, he nodded in salute, and after a couple of hand signs, dispersed into mist once more, flowing out of the window with incredible speed.

* * *

_**Seven Years later**_

"WAKE UP." Naruto jumped with a scream holding his heart to calm it down, and avoid the nearly fatal heart attack in the morning.

Just next to him stood his adoptive mother Elena Giovanni, holding a Tanto and making it spin in her hand nervously.

"You're going to be late, and Kami forgives me if you're late during the exam day. I swear if…" and Naruto heard no more because he was already quickly dressing up, as fast as he could.

"Damn it!" he muttered as he lost some time tying his shoes.

"NO SWEARING FOR FU…" Thankfully he was already out of the room and running downstairs, his mother bewildering yelling just a few minutes behind him.

"_Ciao_ kiddo!" his adoptive father, Francesco, said raising his hand in a salute gesture, as he was reading the newspaper, as Naruto grabbed a piece of toasted bread and then ran once more, out of the house directly through the window, since it was closer that way than from the door, and began jumping from roof to roof.

"Just promise me you'll never turn like any of our family member, Elisabetta." As he said that, he eyed the four year old female toddler, who, with a giggling smile, went on playing with her breakfast.

"HE …" as soon as Francesco heard his wife start yelling from the stairs, he was out of the window too, but not before having sent a kiss to his firstborn.

"Say _Ciao_ to mommy from me, princess!" and off he went too.

As Elena entered the kitchen, she sighed staring at how much cereals had ended on Elisabetta's hair, and shaking her head muttered:

"I should have placed grates at the windows years ago."

"Dad says _Ciao_." The toddler said, nodding.

"Yes he does, now, next time you see him, or Naruto, tell them…" and the woman whispered something that made Elisabetta giggle.

* * *

"I'm hereeeee!" Naruto yelled as he crash landed inside the classroom, from outside, thanks to an open window.

"I see, Naruto Giovanni Uzumaki, would you kindly avoid using the window next time around?" Iruka-sensei muttered slightly pissed, but otherwise not too angry.

"I'm sorry Sensei, I overslept and it was the fasted mean to get to class." As Naruto said that, he took one of the available seats in the back, like he always did, and waited for the exam to begin.

"Good, now, as you all know, today is the day of the exam: your name will be called, and you will have to produce a specific jutsu we will ask from you. If you can do so, you'll pass, otherwise you will fail." As Iruka-sensei finished speaking, Mizuki-sensei took the spot, and added:

"The jutsu will be the same for everyone, but you are refrained from talking to others about what it is, until everyone has taken the test, furthermore, once the test is done, you will be dismissed from the academy till tomorrow, where those who have passed will come back here, to learn the name of their Jounin instructor." Having said that, the name roll was taken, and everyone took its turn.

"Sasuke Uchiha" as that name was called, the raven haired Emo of the class hell bent on revenge moved out of the classroom, and Naruto rolled his eyes.

"You know, I never understood what girls find in him." He muttered to the guy next to him, who turned out to be Shino Aburame.

"Lone dark hero. Trope of the century." The boy replied making Naruto roll his eyes again.

"Worse than being with him, would be being with him and one of his fan girls." Naruto muttered, praying to Kami that no, he would not end up with any of Sasuke's fan girls.

"hm…Naruto-kun…I-I ho-pe you will…be with team-m-mates you like." The voice came from a timid blushing girl behind him, and as he turned raising his right eye brow in a puzzled expression, he brought forth a wide smile.

"Thanks Hinata-chan! I hope the same happens to you too." Having said that, Hinata began stuttering and blushing even more furiously soon losing herself in some sort of fantasy world.

"Naruto Giovanni Uzumaki" the blond spike-haired boy stood up, and waving off the other people of the classroom, of which only Shino and Hinata actually took the time to nod at his waving, he went for the assigned class.

"Now Naruto-kun, could you create three clones?" as Iruka-sensei asked that, Naruto nodded, before making the required signs: Tiger-Boar-Ox-Dog.

"Bunshin no Jutsu" and then, the room was filled with ten perfect illusions of Naruto.

"Wonderful display of chakra, usually normal students don't get over four…how did you manage?" Mizuki asked, curious.

"My Kaa-san made me practice the entire array of the academy Jutsus till I got them perfectly. She can be really persuasive, you know?" Naruto shivered at the thought of how half the times he'd gotten himself to train to learn them, or risk an excruciating torture worse than death: cleaning swords with his mother.

"I see, well then, the exam is over, and as of now, Naruto Giovanni Uzumaki you're officially a Genin of Konoha." As Iruka said that with a bit of pride, he handed over the head protector with the leaf symbol carved on it that the young boy of thirteen swiftly took and put on his forehead immediately.

"You are dismissed for the rest of the day, I'm sure your family is waiting you to eagerly celebrate." As Mizuki added that, Naruto bowed once more and then began running, dashing directly out of the class' window, earning himself two sighs from both Iruka and Mizuki.

"That boy doesn't really like doors," they both muttered.

**Author's notes**

**So…what do you think of my attempt at Naruto fic?**

**That said, this one will probably have shorter chapter than the other one I'm still currently doing ( A Demilich In Tristain) but still, it was nagging my mind to create one such fic with an intersection of kunoichi's and Mafiosi.**

**Italian-English dictionary section:  
piccolo: Kid/little one if used as noun.**

**Consigliere: Not to be confused with an advisor of the Godfather, it's a rank among the Mafia given to the elders.**

**Baciamo le mani: We kiss the hands= We salute you with respect (parting or arriving)**

**Arrivederci: Goodbye**

**Scimunito: idiot.**

**Ciao: See ya.**


	2. Keeping it simple

Chapter Two

Naruto Uzumaki Giovanni had just barely dashed out of the window of the ninja academy that a pair of strong arms had already circled around his shoulders, and brought him down to ground level, making him fall face first on the ground with a slight dust cloud.

"Naruto-kun… you passed didn't you!" The cheerful voice came from a slightly tanned female with a curvaceous body, her long orange hair and red eyes made her stand out, especially because her body seemed like that of a pin-up model. She did have a slight scratch on her lower left lip, and was currently dressed in a Flak-vest of a dull brown color; her forehead protector was on her left wrist, tied strongly, as she held what looked like an overgrown shuriken on her back, wearing a pair of military-style boots and long black trousers.

"Lea-chan…you're hurting me," Naruto coughed, as he tried his best to get back on his feet, but the woman kept him in a sort of choke hold down on the ground.

"I love it when you're all M, Naruto…" she giggled, sending a bust of murmurs blaze all around them, as the academy's ground were filled with parents, who were talking among themselves and their sons and daughters, praising them for having passed the exam. Naruto felt just a slight ting of sadness, as he scanned around for Francesco or Elena, but couldn't see either of them.

"Anyway remove your brooding face! Your master here has come to take you to a surprise!" As Lea, whose real name was Leonarda Preziosi, of the Daeva family, chirped that, she brought him back to his feet.

"You'll never stop with all this S&M talk, right?" Naruto muttered as he dusted himself off.

"Obviously not! Cheer up, Emo-guy! Now, let's get going!" The Jounin-level ninja said, grabbing him by the right ear and starting to pull him.

"_That's the demon boy." "He's with the Mafia, how can he still be left to roam free?" "They should just cage him" "We should have lynched him when he was younger."_ These whispers were abruptly halted when a loud dull sound echoed twice in the courtyard, and two walking mountains of muscles barged straight in with a proud and enormous laughter.

"Look at that! The Preziosi Heiress and the Giovanni whelp! Ahah!" Giacomo erupted into a laughing fit, before being helped by Gianni, who giving him the elbow on the side, added:

"They certainly look like a couple alright!" at those words on Lea's face a vein began bulging and throbbing.

"The age difference is a bit high, but who cares?" as Giacomo insisted on that, Naruto thanked the Kami that Leonarda had let go of his ear, but she was moving her hand towards her giant-sized shuriken on her back.

"You two…_Dormite con I pesci_!" as she yelled that, the shuriken began spinning fiercely, as the woman used precise and always increasing hand movements in the center of it, and then, as she threw it with speed and precision, the two Brujah's lifted their baseball bats just in the nick of time.

In the nick of time to get thrown backwards, their bats slightly dented, but never the less still intact, as they kept on chuckling.

"She's got a fiery temper alright." Gianni said, to which Giacomo replied with a fake coarser voice:

"She's going to end up as a _Zitella_ if this keeps up, really!"

"You two should stop…before she snaps out in the middle of the street." Naruto carefully suggested, as the hair on the back of Leonarda had started raising itself slightly towards the sky, anger fueling said reverse of gravity.

"Oh _scugnizzo_, she's a Preziosi, what could a Daeva family…" do against two Brujah? The next moment, the two big brutes slumbered down, as the giant shuriken moved swiftly back into Lea's hand, and from there on her back.

"Good. You got lucky I've got no time to mess with you, while you stay paralyzed for a couple of minutes…still," as she said that with a wicked smile, she moved closer to the two brutes, who stood slumbered down in a seating position, "payback is always done by a bitch." And with that, she threw kicks were no man wishes to be hit, thrice.

"Ne, Naruto-Kun, now we can go, right?" as she turned around smiling, Naruto nodded, mentally noting never, ever, to make fun of Lea.

***Scene Break***

Giovanni's had the tough line of the work. It was as easy as that, really, a Brujah's only job was to hit things till they stopped moving, if there was a problem. A Giovanni? A Giovanni had to both talk to the problem, and then hit the problem if it didn't go away. So, when he was once more taken for a fool, Francesco simply snapped.

"Five hundred ryos is a good enough price." The baker said, as he had on the counter the pastries.

"If it were the price you make for everyone, sure. Though you'll have to tell me why…" as Francesco was about to enter another rant, a hand calmly placed herself on his right shoulder.

"Now, now, let me handle this, my dear friend." The voice came from a white as snow skinned male beauty, with perfect lineaments and a heartwarming smile, his lips were full, and even a straight guy would have started doubting his sexuality, the moment they saw him, with his neatly arranged auburn hair and clear sky-blue eyes, his long perfectly trimmed fingers, and a stature worthy of a lingerie model.

"What appears to be the problem with Mister Giovanni?" as the man asked that, the baker stared sideways, putting a hand behind his neck.

"Well, Mister Preziosi, there's been a recent increase in prices, due to a lack of prime materials, and so…"

"Strange, I know one of my sons came here this morning, and the price hadn't increased." As the Preziosi family leader replied that, the baker looked shocked for a moment, but then hesitantly added:

"It just happened so recently that there was no choice, really."

"So, you're telling me there's been a lack of prime materials after breakfast, but before noon?" the Preziosi was slightly smiling, which made the baker at ease, for some sort of reason.

"Yes, so as you can understand, I had to increase the prices and…"

"Then when you baked these pastries, you did so in the after breakfast, right?"

"Yes!" the baker nodded happily: maybe he would pull it through after all.

"Then, explain to me why these ones appear to be at least one day old." As the Preziosi's tone turned colder, like a glass knife, he pointed to a set of pastries whose jam didn't seem too different from the others, "I cook and bake by myself, you know? And this jam is at least one day old, as it's no longer shiny as a fresh one would be. Are you selling to my dear friend stale pastries from days before in an attempt to beg me to mercifully grant you death? If you so wish, I can kill you painlessly in the next three minutes, depending on your answer…or I could leave you to my dear friend, who seems more inclined on doing it in a more hurtful way."

The baker's face turned pale for a moment, but then he managed to blurt out:

"I must have switched the packages! I'm deeply sorry!" dashing back in the backroom, and emerging a moment later with a set of rather expensive looking pastries inside clear paper boxes, to keep the taste fresh.

"I am deeply sorry, please, they are on the house, really." He muttered, handing them over to Francesco, who raised an eyebrow but otherwise nodded.

As both the Giovanni and the Preziosi left the shop, Francesco muttered:

"I didn't know you baked, Romano."

"I don't, Frankie." Before Francesco could actually throw a kick at the man for having used his nickname, the Preziosi had already jumped on a roof, waving goodbye, a pastry in his mouth.

"Only this once, I'm letting him go." The Giovanni muttered, before beginning his walk back towards the Corleone's compound, oh the kid was going to get a surprise all right.

***Scene break***

"Lea-chan, this isn't the Giovanni's compound, why are we in the Corleone's one?" as Naruto asked that, he looked around a bit lost, as the mansion they were practically waltzing in was the one of the Don himself, whose garden seemed to have gone through another hurricane, as it had been completely and utterly razed to the ground.

"Today is special, you got your head protector, you're officially a ninja, and thus you can now enter the ranks of the Mafia. So, first things first, we meet the Godfather." As she said that, Naruto gulped; he had already met the Godfather a couple of times, and while he had never struck him as an evil person, it was clear that he was indeed a powerful one. As they passed through the doors of the three stories high mansion, the guards waved at Naruto with a smile.

"Why is everyone happy to see me today?" Naruto asked.

"Free food and drinks." Lea replied.

"What?" The boy asked again, not understanding.

"You'll see, it's a surprise after all." And, as she said that, they stopped in front of a door, smiling at Naruto who still looked puzzled, and then pushing him through, closing the door behind her.

The room was dark, completely dark, and it did appear empty, if not for a set of tables with dishes, and a single man in the center, who had his hands behind his back.

Naruto widened his eyes, as he recognized the man for the _Padrino_, Don Gianfranco Bruzzo Corleone himself, who smiled, even though in the darkness he couldn't quite actually perceive it as such, since it looked more like a grin.

"So, I've taken you've passed your Genin Exam?" the Don asked.

"Y-Yes," Naruto spluttered, nervous.

"I ain't eating ya." The Don replied moving closer, which earned himself a surprised look from Naruto, who had never heard anyone, of the entire family, speak in slang, never.

"I…" The blond-spiked ninja was baffled, and surprised, and didn't actually know what to do.

"Oh, that's not how you youngsters nowadays talk, with the Yo-yo thing," moving his hands up and down, "and the *_Ehi bella come butta_!* stuff?" an anime sweat-drop appeared on Naruto's forehead, as he shook into a no motion.

"I see: I must have been misinformed" as Gianfranco said that, he coughed twice, reassuming a stern face and putting his hands behind his back.

"Well then, I'm sure you're starting to wonder why I called you here." As the Don said that, Naruto nodded.

"You see, since you are, after all, a family member, a Giovanni not by blood, but still by name and soul," saying that, he grinned a bit, "when a member of the Mafia gets of age, he enters the family no longer as a kid, but as a _picciotto_, and when that happens, he gets *presented* to the rest of the families, by someone who can guarantee that he can be trusted. Still, you are given choice: you can refuse, if you wish, and keep going as a simple Ninja of Konoha, it won't change nothing, and you'll still keep your surname Giovanni, you'll still live, if you want, with Francesco and Elena, and nothing at all will be different, but you'll never have access to the family's secret scrolls, or get called anything else than _scugnizzo_, but apart from that? Everything will remain the same." As he said that, Naruto was perplexed, did he really have to ask what his choice was going to be?

"On the other hand, if you accept, you'll get access to the full benefits of the Mafia, at least, of what your rank entitles you to. Though this comes also with the probl…" but he was cut short by Naruto, who exclaimed:

"I'm in alright! I'm in! I mean it, really…I never felt at home for the first six years of my life, and in this last seven I felt more happy than ever before, so I don't care about problems or restrictions or what else, I'm in, Godfather, I'm in." as Naruto said that, tears rolling down his cheeks for the emotion, Don Gianfranco smiled at the boy.

"Well then, you should stop crying, especially because I'm feeling a death glare coming at me from your mother, and also from my wife." As he said that with a chuckle, he clapped his hands, and the lights turned back on, to reveal the two women who had one a Tanto in her hands, and the other a Chain and Sickle, and had left their respective hiding places with growling faces.

"Really dear, you made the poor boy cry…" as Maria Grazia said that with a little smile that meant hellish future pain for the Don, Naruto quickly wiped out his tears, and stared in surprise.

"Kaa-san?"

"Oh well, SURPRISE!" his mother exclaimed, slightly red in the face, and the next moment, more and more people emerged from the walls, behind the furniture, from the ceiling and from the pavement, all happily smiling and clapping their hands, congratulating him.

Yes, he had made the right choice, this was his home now, and that was his family, no matter the problems.

***Scene Break***

Naruto was laying, his hand at rest in a water basin, in his bed, thinking about how many times his hand had to shake that of the rest of the family members, he never realized it, but handshakes can be of various forms and types, some strong, some weak, some average, some delicate and other incredibly coarse. His hand hurt, but not that much that he couldn't help but keep a grin on his face, he was now inside the family, really inside, and nothing or nobody could take him out of it. As his right hand cooled down, he looked at his left one, seeing the mark on the index finger, where he had picked it with a kunai, in order to draw the blood necessary to write his name in the Giovanni's family scroll. Naruto Uzumaki Giovanni.

Another reason he was laying down was the incredible quantity of food and pastries he had ingested, some of which he had never even tasted before, as it turned out, the reason the Godfather's garden was nearly destroyed was that instead of his actual pastries, the baker had given over those for the Hokage's grandson celebration, and thus there wasn't even one with his name on. The result had been an interesting fight, at least hearing it from Gianni and Giacomo, which had ended with Francesco reappearing only in the middle of the celebrations.

His father had never shown to be one who enjoyed fighting till the end, preferring a more layback attitude, which kind of reminded Naruto of Shikamaru. Maybe they were somehow parents? In any case, he was now resting; his stomach full, his mind in bliss, and nothing, nothing at all could make him feel miserable that same day.

He hadn't counted on his mother, actually.

"Good, you rested enough. Up we go." As he heard his mother voice exclaiming that, he felt himself being pulled down from the bed, the water basin strangely in his mother's right hand, and she had that sort of evil grin she showed to him when it was time to train with the academy jutsus.

"Kaa-san…can't I rest today? It's nearly sunset," Naruto pleaded, trying his best puppy eyes.

"Nope, a _picciotto_ trains even more! You should be happy, but if you don't even want your graduation gift then maybe I could let you rest…" as she said that with a slight grin, Naruto was already up and about, his puppy eyes glinting with desire to know just what his gift was going to be.

His mother packed a couple of things in a backpack, and while Naruto couldn't see if there was something strange except the usual torture devices…training equipment as his mother called them, he still had a bad feeling, as his father actually made the sign of the cross muttering an _Amen_ as they moved by the kitchen.

"Otou-san, you're not coming?" as a reply, his father carefully stood up, and slowly moved backwards towards the window, muttering:

"I think I'll go and get Elisabetta back from Ma' you know…good luck son, you're going to need…" but he didn't finish the sentence, as a two kilos block hit him straight in the face, sending him on the other side of the window, and falling down.

"What did he mean by that, huh? Is there something you don't like about my training methods, Naruto?" as his mother asked that, her hidden anger clearly shown, Naruto gulped and shook his head.

"No! Everything is fine, really! Mom's training is the best!" nodding then furiously.

"Good boy!" her face distended immediately, as she took on a happy grin and ruffled his hair.

***Scene break***

The Giovanni's training ground was a mixture of mud, more mud, and even more mud. To that end, there was even an underground hot water spring that increased the mud's temperature from cool to scorching hot; the closer one went to the source of the water. It could have been a perfect open air bath, but the Giovanni had no need for open air baths, and so it had become a relatively muddied and stony area. Stones pillars and blocks scattered in the mud, some safe, other fake, other still trapped.

Naruto had usually always trained in the outer circle, were the mud wasn't all that difficult to tread upon, and where the worst you could expect was only one fake stone block that made you slip down, nothing of lethal or problematic.

"So, tomorrow they are going to assign you into a team, right?" Elena asked, jumping from stone to stone, Naruto following her with relative ease, as she moved towards the middle circle of stones and mud.

"Yes, I just hope I don't end up with the Uchiha and one of his fan girls," Naruto answered back, "I couldn't stand all that lovey-dovey idiocy during a mission."

"Naruto, remember to judge a person only after having come to know her," his mother replied, stopping at the edge towards the inner most circle.

"Kaa-san, aren't we a bit close to the center?" he asked her, but all she replied with was a grin, and then the rock pillar on which he was ended up sliced.

That was the cue that training had begun, as he fell downwards, he concentrated chakra on his feet, to avoid falling neck-deep into the warm bubbling mud, and jumped backwards, to climb once more a rock pillar. It was chakra-cost effective to stay on solid surfaces, instead of liquid ones.

As he climbed however, he realized his mother had disappeared from sight, so, as he was about to reach the top of the rock pillar, he jumped to the side, hands wide, and falling on a stone block nearby, just in the nick of time to avoid the hit of his mother's Ninjato.

One thing he had come to know was that, differently from when he trained with his father, his mother never spoke until training was finished, which actually meant only when he was so dead beat and tired that it was no different than hitting a puppy in the street.

Naruto closed his eyes, swiftly moving his hand symbols for the Bunshin no Jutsu, creating seven copies, while each of his replicas jumped into the air in a different direction, some were the target of flying kunais and shurikens, but they all dispersed as soon as the real Naruto landed, unscathed, on another pillar, that however crumbled down immediately, earning himself a nasty fall, that ended with no injury, because he managed to avoid the crumbling debris by swiftly jumping to the side.

His feet pumped with chakra enabled him to dash quickly towards the outer circle, but at that moment, he was gifted with a loud scream:

"Shinkūken!", as a wind slash literally cut him from his intended path, sending the mud flying upwards, and shocking him enough to make him lose control, the mud then fell back down to fill the fissure left by the sword's technique, bringing Naruto down with her.

As he gasped for air, he managed to bring himself back up to waist-depth, and moved while coughing out mud and cleaning as he could his hair, towards a rock footstep.

"You lost control." His mother commented, sitting on top of a rock pillar, nearby.

"Using Kenjutsu against a just graduated Genin is unfair," Naruto replied, coughing out more mud, as he rubbed his eyes.

"Life is unfair. In war there is no such thing as fairness, and if you ever enter a fight with a half-assed intent, then you will not win that fight. Remember Naruto, it's a matter of resolve and determination." As she said that, she grinned and threw at him a wrapped long tube-like thing that Naruto quickly caught with both his hands.

"Your father should have given it to you, but he's a lazy bum, so I preferred to hand it over personally," as she said that, Naruto nodded and after unwrapping it, he stared in awe at two small Ninjato.

"Those are the Uzumaki's famous swirling swords. Getting one of them was a hassle, getting them both even more hellish, but that's the gift of the entire family, so be sure to thank the Godfather when you have the time." As she said that, Naruto stared at his mother in shock.

"Uzumaki, like my first surname?" he asked.

"Yes, from the land of Uzushiogakure, the land of whirlpools, seems like they had a sword-fighting style that required two Ninjato's … which I must warn you not to start using together, and certainly not today. Keep them dear, but don't use them without having trained first, got it?"

"Aw…why not?" Naruto muttered holding them both tightly: one had a red scabbard, while the other had a blue one, the first with a golden whirlpool on the grip of the sword, while the second had it silver. He just wanted to slash something!

"Swords are *not* toys. They require care, dedication and concentration. You'd just hurt yourself without practicing, which is why whenever you'll have time between missions, or when your Jounin-sensei doesn't call you, you will train with me. Did I make myself clear?"

"Yes, Kaa-san."

"No, It's SENSEI!" she snapped back, making Naruto whimper for a moment, before nodding.

"Yes, Sensei."

"Good, now that you've caught your breath, let's keep going." And as a diabolical grin appeared on Elena, Naruto began praying to god for a swift end.

***Scene Break***

The Godfather was keeping his best poker face, as he slowly increased his bet. In front of him, Francesco Giovanni sighed, as the Hokage, the next one in line, called. He folded his hand, and the fourth guy at the table, Kakashi-sensei, folded too.

"So, I change two cards." The Godfather said with a smile, and Kakashi swiftly provided him with two cards, in exchange for two others.

"I'll swap only one." The Hokage replied, taking a puff of smoke, as Francesco aptly did the change.

Then the Godfather silently doubled the pot, and the Hokage stood, muttering something indiscernible, before calling in with a raise. Don Gianfranco stood in doubt; sure, he had nothing, but so probably had the Hokage, if he bluffed any more it would be risky, but he'd never back away from a bet.

The next moment, both set of cards were revealed, as both Kakashi and Francesco grimaced, the Godfather's hand was rubbish, but so was the Hokage, and the highest card among both of them was six of spades.

Which meant they both had cheated, wrongly, trying to get a flush, but since after all both Kakashi and Francesco had cheated to make sure cards had been given out as they were needed, it simply meant that everyone had cheated each other in such a way that they had ended by cheating themselves too.

"Pot stands in for the next hand then," the Hokage muttered.

"Agreed," The Godfather added, as he said that, he gave a nod to Francesco, who was looking for a moment with a slight doubt on his face.

"I had a question; it has come to my attention that Naruto's surname, the first one, Uzumaki, belonged to the land of Whirlpools, specifically to a certain Kushina Uzumaki, who was married with a certain Minato Namikaze," as he said that, the Hokage raised an eyebrow, he was sure the Giovanni hadn't dug up the information by himself, but after all, they did do important things as a family, and he knew all too well the skill of the Falcone family in gathering information, "Who was just so casually the fourth Hokage, if to that we add the fact that he was called *Demon Child* for most of his life, and he is called that still now by some of the people in Konoha, I hate to ask, but did, perhaps, the Fourth Kage seal the Kyuubi, the nine tailed beast that attacked the village, inside of him? I have realized there *are* strange seals on his stom…" as Francesco asked that with ease and politeness, Kakashi had already a kunai ready, as the Godfather instead had already unsheathed his hidden Katana that flew straight out of his right sleeve, and stopped inches from the Jounin's face, while the Hokage simply stared at the scene with his eyes slightly narrowed.

"I think I don't even need to have the question answered. The more you try to hide it, the brighter the answer shines."

"Kakashi-kun, put away the kunai, and please, Don Gianfranco-san, do the same." As both men growled, they still both did so.

"It appears you already know everything, Mister Giovanni-san, so, what is the point of bringing forth the question?" as Hiruzen queried, he took another deep puff, he'd have to verify just how they had managed to get all that information, he highly doubted they had simply placed everything together like this, in an instant, inside work, maybe?

"I intend on telling him everything tomorrow." Francesco replied simply, shrugging, as he began dealing the cards once more.

"It is a classified S-secret, preventing anyone from telling him, if you were to speak, then there would be the Death penalty," Kakashi noted, as he took his cards and stared at them with a disheartened expression.

"He isn't ready for this, maybe when he's a Chuunin or even a Jounin, but till then? He's too young, he might…" as the Hokage was about to say something, the Godfather interrupted.

"He's a _picciotto,_ a made-man. I do not know what you fear, Hiruzen, but rest assured, he'll be more than able to handle it, and Francesco…well, he's got his ways to make people understand stuff." As he said that, the man in question raised an eyebrow.

"Are you telling me I should tell him like I usually speak to the guys who don't pay?" he did have a slightly more threatening tone, but just lightly.

"Not in that way, Frankie! Still, you see? The man cares for the boy: he even twitched his eyebrows when I suggested something! He's a Giovanni for Kami's sakes: they grow them up on loyalty!" as the Godfather said that, he placed another raise on the pot, swiftly followed by the Hokage and by Francesco, while Kakashi folded once more.

"Still, what if he asks questions you don't know the answer to? Maybe you could wait till Jiraiya-san, one of the legendary Sannins, comes back? He's Naruto's godfather, not in your terminology!" The Hokage swiftly added since both Francesco and Gianfranco had been eyeing at him with a pretty murderous glare.

Still, the murderous glare continued, and finally it was Francesco that broke the silence:

"He had a godfather all this time? Yet he was beaten till six years old and left famished and scarred? A legendary Sannin too at that? You know what? Screw it, I'm telling him tonight." As he said that, he went all-in.

"I ask you to keep a cool head on the matter, please, we don't know how this could affect the boys growth." As the Kage said that, with a slight plead in his voice, he called-in too, as did the Godfather.

"Well, let's bet it on who has the winning hand tonight." As Francesco said that, both the Godfather and the Kage nodded, and then suddenly, two royal flush of the same color came down, one of spades, the other of diamonds.

"You two cheated," saying that, Francesco just so casually dropped down two cards that belonged to the Kage's royal flush and two that belonged to the Godfather's one, then the fifth one, that made a couple with another one of those he had already dropped before, marked him as the proud owner of a simple couple of tens.

Then, with a bow, he stood up, and grabbed the chocolate chips that had been used as the wager, together with the assorted candies, and, after placing it all in a bag, he left the room that had fallen into a deep silence. Kakashi wouldn't tell them, but he actually had a poker of tens in his hand…and he was sure he hadn't cheated at all.

***Scene change***

Completely cleaned from the mud, Naruto sat down on the chair of his desk. Staring around at his room, he suddenly realized just how many things *he* had. He felt happy at that, he who had started with barely a half-smashed backpack. He recalled the first gifts, shirts too short now to fit on him, but that he still kept with fierce determination in his dresser, he remembered fondly when in the beginning it was just him and Francesco, eating usually always a variation between _Tagliatelle, _that were simply flattened noodles, or Ramen of sort with the two Baseball bat freaks, who actually were his cousins, now that he thought about that, their surname however wasn't Giovanni, but _Spacca_, and they belonged to the Brujah bloodline; it kind of seemed strange how they were cousin, yet held different bloodlines, something that had been explained to him once, but he had not taken much of an attention of it: clashing of the blood to decide the strongest one among family members, or something like that.

He looked at the neat pile of scrolls, that contained his past homework, always kept in check, and then he looked at his ninja utensils, that had been polished and cleaned thoroughly by himself.

Cleaning had become a habit, after meeting Elena for the first time. Actually, it had become a habit *not* to dirty things, so they could keep being clean longer. He chuckled, recalling the first time he had actually vegetables in something that wasn't soup.

As he recalled the fond and happy memories, he felt a nice tingling sensation of warmth inside of him, and fell soundly asleep, on the chair.

A couple of minutes later, at least, for him, he was slightly shaken by a firm hand, and slowly brought back to his senses, staring at him was the smiling Francesco, who made a sign of victory, hauling in the usual sack of sweets.

"You won the match?" Naruto asked, half asleep, as he stared at the vast amount of candy he had earned.

"Got the all-in of the Godfather and of the Hokage: how was your day instead? Except obviously the morning and the early afternoon," he asked back, starting to neatly divide the pile of sweets into form, taste and primary type of chocolate, sugar, or honey.

"Kaa-san trained me in the middle circle, and gave me two cool Ninjatos," he said with a smile, "said I must thank the Godfather for them, and you, and the rest of the family." He added with a bit of pride in his voice.

"Oh yeah, I'll get you a basic set of scrolls to learn to use them. Now, however, we need to have a talk." As Francesco said that, he put on his serious face. Said serious face had been seen by Naruto only in three occasions, the first being when he had nearly punched to the death half a dozen of Konoha's civilians, who had decided to throw things at Naruto, when he was walking down a road together with him. It had taken five Brujah guards to avoid a mass slaughter, and many, even among the Brujahs, had sworn that, next time, they'd be more careful not to meddle with him.

The second time had been when he had heard that he was getting picked on at school, and had thus asked to come and explain a lesson on why you do not meddle with the Mafia. The teachers hadn't expected the entire class, barring Naruto and few others, to be put under a mass Genjutsu and subjected to horrible and painful reasons why meddling with a Giovanni was going to cost grievously.

The third time, it had been rather recently, when he had explained to him that he was going to have a baby-sister, and that, no matter what, he would still be loved as his son, even if he'd have work, or he'd be busy, or anything, and Naruto had understood without a problem.

So, when Francesco said that, Naruto woke up completely, and nodded.

"Now…it's a long tale, listen up: You are the biological son of Kushina Uzumaki, and Minato Namikaze, the reason the people of the city hated you, was because your father, the late Fourth Hokage, sealed the Demon Fox, the Kyuubi, inside of you at your birth. The seal on your stomach is a proof of that." As Francesco spoke slowly, Naruto stared at him, trying to understand his words, trying to comprehend if he was fooling him, or conning him, or anything, but he wasn't, he knew that much, he knew that no matter how much he was good at Genjutsu and Taijutsu, his father wouldn't lie to him with such a serious and straight face.

"To add more, you've got a godfather, not in our terminology, but more in that of an actual godfather, who was nominated at birth, in Jiraiya-san, who is one of the legendary Sannins, a sort of trio of ninja famous for having being trained by the third Hokage himself, and…"

"Wait… Why are you telling me this?" as Naruto asked that, Francesco raised an eyebrow.

"Why shouldn't I?" he asked back.

"Well, it's like a goodbye speech, like I'm about to have to leave and…" as he said that, he got interrupted by his father holding him in a choke hold move.

"Are you an idiot or what! I'm just explaining it simply! For Kami's sakes, you're not going to leave anything or go away anywhere anytime soon! Calm down and stop freaking out like we're going to disappear in the blink of an eye if you turn around." He stopped the violent choke hold, and proceeded to simply pat his head once.

"I'm telling you this, because you need to know your past, I thought you'd be more interested in knowing about having a demon inside of you twirling around inside of you, you know?"

"I don't care about that, you don't care, so I don't care," Naruto replied, staring into Francesco's eyes.

"Sheesh, you learned my philosophy of life pretty well," the man replied with a chuckle, "still, if you ever feel the need to tell me anything, anything at all, just come and talk to me, fine? Oh, and by the way, this is an S-level secret, if you tell someone else, about anything of this, unless you get the Hokage's approval, it's the death penalty."

Naruto nodded, and after the usual good-night, his father left him to himself, and his thoughts.

As he changed into his pajama, his mind stayed blank, until he sat down on his bed, and faced the ceiling holding his hands behind his head, and that, that was the most sleepless night he had ever had, as he began thinking about how, with less than a five minutes talk, Francesco had explained everything to him. He was the son of the fourth Hokage, and he had the Kyuubi, the nine-tailed demon beast, inside of him. He wasn't afraid; however, he wasn't even surprised. Demon-boy, demon, monster, were now clear to him, yet he didn't feel anything about the men and women who had used them against him. He slightly grinned at the thought of where he now was, at a crossroad, tomorrow, everything would be decided, who he would be teamed up with, who he would have as a sensei, and, he kind of hoped, it wouldn't be Leonarda. Anyone else was fine, but the Preziosi's Heiress? Kami forgive, he'd drop out and become a ramen stand vendor.

With thoughts turning to Ramen, and to the Ramen king fighting the Carbonara king, he drifted into sleep after two hours. After all, that was the most amount of time he could muster laying down in *his* bed, before falling asleep.

**Author's notes**

**Another chapters rolls by. Tell me what you think.**

**Once again, teams/sensei are yet undecided, but I've got already a gist planned out.**

**Italian-English dictionary**

**Dormite con I pesci: Go sleep with the fish! (Either Go die! Or literally You sleep with fishes) **

**Zitella: Unmarried woman, slightly dispregiative term.**

**Scugnizzo: Street urchin.**

**Ehi bella come butta: "Hya! ****Nice! How's its going!" -crude slang.**

**Picciotto: simple soldier rank in the mafia organization**

**Preziosi-Spacca-Galante= surnames, precious-Break-gentleman (literal****ly translations)**

**Please be nice and review.**


	3. Learning the Drill

Chapter Three

Naruto woke up to the smell of freshly made coffee, a beverage that was drank in the morning by his father, and the simple fact of smelling it so close by made him open his eyes in a puzzled expression, until he actually saw the coffee cup on his bed desk, still fuming, and three sugar cubes to the side of it. He stood up yawning, not understanding for a moment, but then shrugging, and taking a sip from the coffee, which turned out bitter, even after all three sugar cubes had been put inside, and even after having vigorously turned the content with a small metallic spoon.

He sighed as he dressed up in his short sleeved mimetic coat, grabbing his kunai and shuriken pouch, but leaving the swords in their scabbards and hidden in his drawer: his mother had been clear on their use, and until she gave her okay, they weren't meant to be used yet. Once he got downstairs, he realized, his mother wasn't there nor was his baby sister, instead, Francesco Giovanni, stood there with a wide smile and…what looked like _Tagliatelle alla cacciatora_.

"This morning is important as it marks your first full day as a _picciotto_! Furthermore your mother was called by Aunt Maria Grazia, so she left me in charge of breakfast! Aren't you…" Naruto dashed out of the window, as his father sighed shaking his head.

"No breakfast of the champions for you then!" he exclaimed, starting to eat his recently transformed into a double portion breakfast. He knew, differently from his son, just what was good and what was even better.

On the other hand, Naruto ran, jumping from roof to roof, till he realized that he had reached school early than the others, and so, since nobody had actually opened the window for him, he had to walk through the door of the school, with a slightly saddened expression, as he took the stairs to the second floor, for the first time in a couple of years, the other time being when he had actually been forced by his mother to enter by the door, like all the other students, as he then opened the window by himself, once he reached his classroom, he jumped outside and then back in.

Feeling satisfied that his morning ritual had been completed, Naruto sat down among the last row of desks, and slowly dozed off to sleep, until he was woken up by the opening of the classroom door, which made him slowly open one eye, then the other, and as he sat back into a normal position, he waved at Hinata, who had clasped her hands together staring at him with her white eyes, the sign of the Byakugan, as she recoiled for a moment, before finally starting to walk in the classroom, as usual.

On her side of thoughts, Hinata was surprised, usually Naruto arrived late, and she was the first, considering the window was open however, a strange thing, because she was the one that usually opened the window for Naruto, it was clear Naruto had arrived here earlier, had walked into the school, and had then opened the window for…fresh air? Or maybe, since otherwise it wouldn't be cool enough for her secret hero and crush…

_Did Naruto-kun open the window from the outside? It has to be!_

As she fidgeted, thoughts and scenarios ran into her mind.

_This is…we are all alone in here…what if he suddenly stands up and hugs me, and then grab me and…k-kiss me? I'm not prepared Naruto-kun! Not yet I'm…_

As her face slowly turned red, she didn't even hear Naruto himself talking to her.

"Hinata-chan? I said hello, how are you? Naruto-earth to Hinata-sky, can you hear me?" as no reply came except a set of worrisome giggles, as Hinata stood still, holding her face with her hands, and reddening even more, Naruto sighed, and stared at her with a puzzled look.

"Ohi! Hinata-chan!" as Naruto said that, he tapped slowly on her right shoulder, which earned himself a "Kyai!" as a reply from the girl, who then outright fainted, smoke coming out from her ears, a slight blood dribble for her nose.

"You've got to be kidding me, Kami!" as he exclaimed that looking around nervously, he decided for the best course of action possible: putting her on a seat right next to him, in a sleep-like position and, after having done that, he started whistling while looking sideways, acting as innocent as possible even when more and more students entered the classroom. When everyone was inside, Iruka-sensei and Mizuki-sensei arrived, ready to assign the teams, and Hinata was still dead-out cold.

Shino, who usually sat next to Naruto, and thus, was also the closest one to stare at Hinata's sleeping position, had but raised a single eyebrow once, and then left the answer to his quizzical question to fate, since he didn't want to actually ask the reason for said strange behavioral pattern, nor was he inclined to.

A slight fuss happened when two fan-girls fought over who should sit next to the Uchiha, a certain Sakura Haruno and another Ino Yamanaka, both of which were in the process of insulting each other, until finally, five minutes later, both teachers managed to grab the attention and the silence of the class.

"Well then, we are now going to call out the team's compositions, and the people in every team," as Iruka-sensei cleared his voice, he began churning out names and teams.

"For Team Seven, we have Naruto Uzumaki Giovanni…"

_Please not with the Uchiha and a fan girl, not with the Uchiha and a fan-girl._

"Sasuke Uchiha and Hinata Hyuga, your Jounin-sensei will arrive shortly," and at that comment, Naruto stared. Firstly, he stared at Sasuke, who actually stared back at him with a puzzled expression, then he stared at the senseis, who they too seemed to have a puzzled expression at such an arrangement, but more than that, the fan-girls were on such a revolt that it had to require Mizuki to slam his hands down on the table, to get silence once more.

"As you all might know, it's the Hokage himself who decides the teams," as the sensei said that, the only thought that ran across his mind was that probably the Hokage wanted to create an *ace* team with two different eye-users and their bloodlines, but then, why Naruto? Sure, he had excellent control on the jutsus, but he wasn't the top of the class, he simply was…well, a good student, and a Giovanni, due to that, some murmurs actually went on foul play, but where quickly hushed as the professor kept saying, "and as such, they are non-negotiable".

Once the names for the rest of the other teams had been given out, Iruka-sensei took word:

"You will now all wait for your Jounin-sensei to come and take you, and then you will follow his or hers routine…and once more, no, teams cannot be rearranged," And with that, both teachers disappeared into a puff of smoke. Leaving Naruto being badly eyed, since Hinata was still sound knocked-out and, furthermore, it was clear as the sun that the third *extra* had to be him out of the two.

"I do not envy you, Naruto-kun." Shino muttered, as he stood up and left with a certain Kiba and Sakura Haruno, as their sensei, a woman by the name of Kurenai, arrived to pick them up.

As Naruto waved him goodbye, he kind of shivered at the death glares, but was glad when they suddenly finished, as more and more people left with their respective Jounins, as it seemed their own was kind of late.

Naruto decided to at least try and make friends with Sasuke, so he kind of stood up and walked to sit right next to him, earning himself an annoyed expression from the raven-haired boy in question.

"Hello there! I'm Naruto Uzumaki Giovanni, a Genin just like you and your teammate! How about we become friends?" as he asked that with a cheer, bringing his hand forward, hoping for a hand-shake, all he got was a slap on the side of his hand, that was pushed aside as the Uchiha stared at him, his eyes devoid of emotions.

"I do not need friends, especially third-wheels like you."

"Who's a third wheel huh!" Naruto retorted, slightly pissed off at the lone-hero guy.

"You clearly are. What do you have? Nothing: you're just plain average and that's all," as Sasuke spat it out, Naruto was just about to start growling at him when Hinata regained, finally, her senses.

She had just had a nice dream of her and Naruto being in the same team, and then falling in love over a mission, and marrying, and having five kids, a white picket fence, a cat and cute dog, and then…she had woken up.

"Ohi! Hinata! We're together with this Emo guy here as a team!" as Naruto said that, pointing at Sasuke, who growled back, Hinata fainted again, blood coming out from her nose.

"This team is going to suck hard." Sasuke muttered rolling his eyes over.

"I didn't hear you Teme."

"Shut up Dobe"

"TEME!"

"DOBE!"

As they both begun growling at each other, staring at each other closer and closer with their eyes flaring in anger, a sudden push from Naruto's back sent him straight into Sasuke's lips, and the next moment, they both separated spitting out and trying to clean their mouths with the back of their hands.

Turning around the boy saw a grey-haired man, who wore a mask that covered nearly three-fourth of his face, holding a book in one hand, he waved them with the other hand.

"It's nice to see that my Genins have such deep relationships!" as the Jounin he said that, he actually jumped backwards, as Naruto had already charged at him with his left fist.

"Now, now, is this the way to treat your Sensei?" as he asked that slightly chuckling, Naruto got far more pissed, but stopped, growling while his fists cracked open into claw-like forms.

"So…Sensei, is there any Taijutsu practice scheduled, today?" He muttered, while doing his best to hold back.

"I was told that as a Giovanni you were fiercely loyal, I didn't expect such self-control from a kid though…well then, I suppose it's you two and the sleeping girl, right? Let's move to the rooftops, last one who gets there runs five laps around the school!"

As he said that, Kakashi dashed out of the window, with Sasuke doing the same moments after. Naruto sighed, then shook Hinata by the shoulder, but since she wasn't waking up, and, not wanting her to get punished, he grabbed hold of her, and piggy-backed her up the stairs.

_She has a nice smell on her though_, Naruto thought, _it's cinnamon if I recall, oh well...she's also…strangely soft._

As he thought that with a slightly red face, he opened the door to the roof top with a kick, and then, carrying her bridal style, he dropped her off first.

"Seems I got here last." He said, shrugging.

_Now that's a heart-warming sight, _as Kakashi thought that, he never the less grinned evilly.

"Well, it's still five laps for you, but that can wait for later. Firstly, how about we make a small game? So we can get to know each other…"

"Humph," Sasuke exhaled, why couldn't they just start training?

"So, first thing first, we wake up the sleeping beauty." As Kakashi chuckled once more, he made a couple of hand symbols, and the next moment, a small dose of water sprouted from his fingers, and hit Hinata in the face, waking her up with a gasp.

"Good! Now, how about each of us tells his preferences and what he likes and dislikes?" as Kakashi said that, clapping his hand, the Hyuga girl stared puzzled, her eyes darting right and left, before coming to an understanding; she had no idea what was going on, so she was better off waiting for someone else to start.

"Why don't you start off then, Sensei?" as the *sensei* word came out a bit between teethes and with a clear sign of bottled up anger, Hinata couldn't help but ponder why Naruto seemed so pissed off.

"Very well, my name is Hatake Kakashi, I have no desire to tell you about my likes and dislikes, as for dreams for the future…I have a lot of hobbies."

"Basically you told us nothing," Sasuke muttered.

"Your turn, blond," as the grey-haired teacher said that, pointing at Naruto, the boy stood proud up, putting both his hands on the folds of his short-sleeved coat to emphasize his smug-cool smile, and then proudly say:

"I am Naruto Uzumaki Giovanni! I belong to the clan Giovanni and am a _picciotto_ of the Corleone's family, my dream is to become the next Hokage, and protect everyone in the village from harm, so that I may prove to them that I'm not a monster! My hobby is eating Ramen and _Tagliatelle_, and helping around the two _Spacca_ cousins, Gianni and Giacomo."

"I…see. You instead?" as the question was brought to the Uchiha's attention, the reply came swiftly, with intention and a hateful scorn.

"I am Sasuke Uchiha, there is nothing I like particularly, and I have no dreams, but an ambition: To reform my clan, and to kill a certain man."

_Sickening,_ Naruto thought in silence, as it appeared clear that it was Hinata's turn, who, after a bit of thought, muttered:

"I…I am Hinata Hyuga…I like pressing flowers and cinnamon rolls,"

_So that's where the smell came from! _Naruto thought.

"And I dislike people who think of others as weak, only because they are not like them. My dream is…" at those words she turned red, and then, shaking her head, she added:

"To walk hand in hand with the person I admire the most!" afterwards, she simply fainted once more, more steam coming out from her ears.

"Interesting…well, we are going to start our duties tomorrow, with some survival training, but I must warn you that I will be your opponent,"

Strangely, Kakashi had expected someone on the team to pout about more training, but all he met was two determined gazes of acknowledgement in his words.

_Just who did I end up with? _The copy-cat ninja thought.

"Anyway, come tomorrow at the training grounds, and no breakfast, you'd just throw it up!" as he grinned at that, before disappearing, to go read the latest Icha-Icha volume, he added:

"Oh right, Naruto-kun, those five laps, you did get here last!" before he dashed off, leaving the Genins alone on the rooftop.

"The Hyuga is all yours to carry around, knight-dobe." Sasuke grinned, as he left the roof without as much as a second thought.

***Scene break***

Hinata came to in the academy's infirmary, the nurse not in the office, she stood up a bit perplexed, looking out of the windows and, as she saw the sun setting, she realized she was probably already late for training with her father. Well, now she could lie to him, and tell him it was because of their sensei. She took a deep breath, steadying her heartbeat and recalling everything that had happened till that moment, it wasn't a dream, it was real. She was a Genin, and she had been assigned in the same team as Naruto! The boy she had a crush on since years ago, when he saved her from some bullies. She still recalled fondly how the boy had come to her aid, her weak and pitiful crying self, and then how he had been beaten mercilessly too.

Then a weak-looking granny had come along, she had raised an eyebrow, and the bullies had been flung around like they were feathers caught in a wind, and thrown away like speck of dusts. More than that, however, she had recalled him standing back up, after dusting himself off the dirt of the road, and smiling at her, telling her everything would be fine.

Yeah, she had fallen for that smile.

The door of the infirmary opened up, and a slightly sweaty Naruto entered, looking at Hinata, who had stood to sit on the bed, with a happy expression.

"You woke up then Hinata-chan," as he moved closer, Hinata reddened slightly; she had shown such an ungraceful side of her, fainting thorough the entire day.

"Y-yes Naruto-kun, I'm sorry if I was a w-weight and…"

"No, need Hinata-chan, no need." Naruto replied, dismissing the issue with a wave of the hand, "as my father says: never fall prey to pride, but also, never fall to self-pity. You'll do your best on our missions: I'm sure, as I'll do so too. I'll have your back, and you'll have mine, since that's what being in a team means." As he said that, the spike-blond haired Genin chuckled, at the sight of an ever reddening Hinata.

"You should do something for your fever, Hinata-chan. You'd better go home: your family is going to be worried for you…if you want, however, I can escort you home."

"I-I…" _I'd love to, as I love you Naruto-kun! _"I…can manage Naruto-kun." She replied, standing back up, if a bit wobbly.

"Well then, see you tomorrow on the training grounds!" and, waving goodbye, Naruto jumped, obviously, out of the infirmary's window.

The Hyuga heiress sighed, as she stood up and bitterly left the academy, as the last words of Naruto rang in her head, yes, she was going to see him tomorrow. Maybe after an entire night of training which would have left her sore all over her body, but still, she would see Naruto-kun the next morning. She passed the gates of the Hyuga compound with a smile, a fact that left the guards outside surprised, and puzzled, they knew how she usually would pass through with a grief-stricken expression.

***Scene Break***

"They put me with the Uchiha and Hinata-chan!" Naruto yelled, once he got back home, and got greeted by his mother, already armed with her favorite Ninjato, which she affectionately called the *Scorching Pin* and a wide smile on her face that betrayed her anger.

"Dinner is getting cold. How come you were so late? What did you eat for lunch?" his comment had been put on second place, as the sacred need for food had always been the first and utmost important thing for Elena Giovanni, even when she still was a young girl who needed food to *grow*. Thus anyone who was late for dinner, or lunch, had better have been eating a bento or have been eating something somewhere, because otherwise, he'd be forced to chug down double amount the next moment.

"Well…I had to run five laps around the academy, and it's a really big academy! Then I had to check on Hinata-chan, because she had fainted and so time passed and when Hinata-chan woke up it was already dusk so…" he was grabbed by the ear and brought to sit at his place near the table.

Elisabetta waved at her older brother with a smile, while Francesco raised but a puzzled eyebrow, putting down the journal, since whenever he was at the table he'd take out a journal to read it from Kami knew where.

"So, did it go well? Nice team mates?" His father always asked the questions he knew would make Naruto start talking, which would then make his wife, Elena start listening, which would, in turn, make him able to ignore both things and happily eat without being interrupted once.

"Well I had kind of hoped to end up with Shino and Hinata together, as they are more the quiet type and I know I could trust them, still when the class heard I ended up with Sasuke and Hinata they thought I was being the third wheel and…"

"Did you take a list of names of those who badmouthed you?" Elena queried, her hand just so casually grabbing a Tanto to start cutting the meat.

"No Kaa-san, but you know, it was *strange* even the teachers were surprised by that arrangement. They did try not to show it, though." Naruto pointed that out while losing himself in thoughts on the reason.

"Well, it is kind of obvious: Everyone looking at the roster of students would have put the Hyuga together with the Inuzuka and the Aburame, as they would have formed an optimal track-team," Francesco pointed out, "though it could be the Hokage simply wanted to put you with them…well, I've got three theories. Want to hear them out?" as he asked that, Naruto nodded, yet Elena narrowed her eyes in suspicion, while starting to just so casually *stab* the meat.

"The first one, they created an extravagant team in the hope that you could be a spear-head. The Hyuga sees the threat, the Uchiha sees through the threat for Genjutsus, and you annihilate the threat through Taijutsu and brute force," as he said that, he raised his index finger, before raising his middle one, "as second option, they took the Sakura Haruno, right? Yes, and they placed her with the Inuzuka and the Aburame so that she could function as a medical ninja…as it's the only thing a girl like that could do, so maybe they wanted to make a track team who could double as an emergency healing center."

"Dear, how come you know about certain stuff? Did you ask Leonarda?" Elena just so casually said, as the meat, which once certainly was pork, was now more like Swiss pork.

"Me? Are you telling me I'd pay with pictures of Naruto the information on his classmates? Really I feel…" the next moment a set of five Tantos and fifteen Kunais launched themselves at the spot where Francesco had been sitting till then, luckily only to be replaced with a Substitution jutsu of a wooden trunk.

"Wait…you gave out what as a payment!" Naruto paled, sweat-dropping.

"Well, it's not the end of the world Naruto," Francesco replied appearing behind him, and putting both his hands on his shoulders, "You need to understand that the world is based also on a Do Ut Des principle, you give so that others may give."

"Dear, you're sleeping on the couch tonight," Elena replied, "and if I hear you tip-toeing in bed later on, I'm making you a eunuch."

"Aw…" Francesco sighed, as he took once more his seat, just to find out his share of the meat was one sixteenth of the normal amount, "nobody loves me," he whined.

As the meal went on for a while, Naruto slightly cocked his head to the side, before muttering:

"So, what's the third one?"

"What's the third what?" Francesco asked back.

"The third reason: You said there were three theories, you only said two."

"Oh, must have counted wrong then." As he shrugged, turning his head to the newspaper, Elena just so casually began humming a funeral march of sort.

"Fine," Francesco sighed, rolling his eyes, "the third reason is the *darkest* one: you got placed together with a possible Genjutsu expert, if tales on what the sharingan can do are real, and a possible chakra control expert".

"So?" Naruto asked back.

"If the seal breaks and that thing inside of you turns rogue, one can take care of the body and the other of the chakra." As he pointed that out, he let out a loud sigh, "but that is something the Hokage, him being himself, would never even think about. So it's just a coincidence at most."

"I…see." Naruto replied lowering his gaze, and finishing the meal in silence, before departing for his room.

"What thing inside of him?" Elena asked her husband with a kind smile, which betrayed the fact that she had, indeed, her most pointy and harmful weapon, her Katana, in hand.

"If you want to know…_ti farò un'offerta che non potrai rifiutare,_" Francesco replied with another kind smile.

"You know I'm going to ask him tomorrow." Elena replied, showing her tongue at her husband, as she readied to strike with her blade.

"I'm sure you'll change idea pretty quickly." As he said that with a nod, he stood up and moved for the window, "going to catch a scroll for Naruto from the family Vault, I should bring the boy one day to get him sorted out."

"Good luck honey!" Elena grinned as her husband left in the dark night, as always, he never openly voiced his worries, instead acting from the shadows, every time, as she thought that, she make her Katana and the rest of the weapons she had previously thrown, disappear into her practical seals.

She turned to her little _principessa_, who was now in the process of pondering wherever salt and sugar would be fine in equal doses on the meat and with a sigh, she grabbed her own portion and cut that in half.

***Scene Break***

Naruto had barely managed to get some sleep, or at least, so he thought, that somebody poked him on the head with what smelled like dried meat. Slowly opening his eyes, and sighing at the thought of another sleepless night, he managed to mutter something unintelligible though, before being grabbed and wrestled down on the floor, making him completely wake up.

"It's two in the morning, Naruto-kun. Time to train with your loveable father."

"Otou-san…?" Naruto muttered jolting back up in pain, as his muscles rebelled at the idea of such early awakening.

"I've got permission from your mother to teach you an awesome new technique, never mind it's prohibited by Konoha's laws, so now…"

"Wait. What are you going to teach me?" as Naruto stared in surprise, now wide awake at the thought of committing a mischief together with his father, Francesco dismissed the question with a hand wave, and began to swiftly move his hands.

"Kage Bunshin no jutsu," as he finished saying that, another Otou-san appeared out of thin air.

"It looks like the Bunshin no Jutsu…" as he finished saying that, each one of the Francesco's pinched a cheek from Naruto.

"Really?"

"Ouch… Hey. They both hurt!" Naruto exclaimed, starting to touch them both.

"This is a Jounin-level technique: it's usually prohibited more because of the enormous amounts of chakra required, and especially because of its secrecy."

"But wouldn't they know if I were to use it in battle that I learned it somewhere?"

"Well, you can always say someone in the family dropped the scroll, and you got curious and started reading it."

"We don't drop scrolls. We don't carry scrolls around alone because we always work in groups of two," Naruto sighed, "it's easier to help each other than to be alone in a pinch," as he said that, he got himself a nice cheek pinch by both the Francescos.

"Perfect! Now you understand why you are not going to sleep now," as one of the two clones disappeared, Naruto scratched his head in understanding, and began dressing up once more.

It was going to be one hell of a night, was his general thought, as his father brought him towards the forest just outside of the village, which was, indeed, a bit strange for Naruto's taste, but he didn't mind, maybe it needed more secrecy than normal?

As his father dropped him the scroll, he muttered:

"I'm going on the look-out, try and memorize the technique swiftly, okay?"

"Yes, _capo,_" Naruto said that, the doubt had already been sprouting in his mind, as he simply stared with surprise at Francesco waving at him a normal goodbye and leaving him alone there, yes, he already had understood what was going on. Still, a new technique *was* a new technique, and he could feign ignorance on the matter.

***Elsewhere***

"I've got my mother's sixth sense tingling," as Elena whispered that to no one in particular, since she was, after all, sleeping alone in the bed, she stood up, and moved to check once more the tripwires, that still stood in position on the outskirts of the house. She moved to the living room, where gently snoring stood the only man able to dodge every attack ever sent his way, and then to her youngest's room, where Elisabetta was peacefully sleeping too. So, when she turned to have a peak into Naruto's room, and found it empty, she closed the door once, and then re-opened it, just to be sure. Then she slowly moved downstairs, and gently pushed on the side her husband.

"Ehi," she whispered to Francesco.

"Five more minutes," the man whispered back, half-asleep.

"Naruto isn't home: did you give him the gift?" Elena queried, a bit worried.

"No…if I had he'd be looking at it like crazy, trying to learn it in one night or something." Francesco muttered back standing up and stretching slightly.

"So why isn't he in his room?" Elena queried once more.

"He's out for a walk?" Francesco suggested, Elena was about to grab a set of kunai and shove it down his throat, but refrained, firstly because the carpet had been cleaned just recently, and secondly because someone knocked at the door, at three in the morning.

"I'll go get it." Francesco sighed, as he moved towards the door, and opened it with ease, after all, this was the Giovanni's complex, the Brujah guards were on patrol that night, and a yell would have alerted the entire compound…plus the Corleone's one which was relatively nearby.

He hadn't expected to see a literal delegation of people at his doorstep, so he raised an eyebrow.

"I understand Gianni and Giacomo, I can even understand Don Gianfranco himself coming here at nearly three in the morning, what I don't get is why there is also half an Anbu platoon couple with Mizuki-sensei…and the Yamanaka." As he said that, he pointed to Inoichi Yamanaka, who stared back at him with perplexed gaze.

"I'm sure he's not the culprit now," Mizuki-sensei said, "after all, he's completely calm: one who would have stolen from the Hokage's secret vault wouldn't certainly be this calm."

"I'll see to that personally then: well, Don Corleone-Sama here says you like to keep things simple," as Inoichi began to explain, Francesco dismissed with a hand wave the rest of the words.

"I'm not an idiot. If the Godfather is here, then he gave permission, and the reason I'm going to trust you is that the Spacca brothers are two people I'm sure would love to smash your head if you were to pry more than what you need, Anbu squadron or not to back you up. So, just read my mind so I can go back to sleep." As he explained it so brazenly, the Don Gianfranco chuckled.

"That's Frankie alright."

Inoichi said nothing, but placed a hand on Francesco's head just as the Spacca brothers placed one each on Inoichi's shoulders, and then, the Yamanaka patriarch, and chief of the intelligence of Konoha, simply reviewed the last two hours of the Shinobi's mind, not seeing anything but him sleeping soundly.

"He's innocent." He said, removing his hand after a brief second, "he's been sleeping here till now…on the couch."

"You ever made your wife angry?" Francesco retorted, which earned a kind of sympathetic share from all the males present at his doorstep.

"Then we excuse ourselves for the disturbance caused." As the Anbu said that, dispersing, swiftly followed by Inoichi, the Godfather and the Spacca's brother were about to leave, but those, those Francesco stopped.

"Could you all wait a moment? I think something is happening tonight, and it concerns Naruto."

"Just a _picciotto_ and already causing troubles! That's my favorite nephew alright!" Gianni said with a wide grin, but Don Corleone stopped to listen.

"What is it, Frankie?"

"He's not in his room, and since I'm connecting the dots here, I think he got conned into following someone who resembles me somewhere to frame him…and us." He replied.

"Why would you think that?" The Godfather queried back.

"Because I've got a gut instinct, who saw *me* going into the Hokage's private stash?"

"I was informed it was two Anbus, and that later that sensei, Mizuki, saw you."

"Then we'd better find Naruto fast. I'm also worried and…" he couldn't finish the sentence, because an already dressed in battle gear, the Iron lands battle gear, Elena Giovanni moved to the door, and, after a quick salute, left in the night. The iron lands battle gear was a samurai outfit, with large metallic plates, extremely oiled and black as the night, to avoid detection and to minimize noise they even had internal padding. Their weight was what made not so used, however, yet Elena Giovanni was one of the few that could use it with ease, and that made her even more…dangerous.

"Yes. We'd better find him before his mother does." As Giacomo said that, he started running towards the Brujah's compound.

"I'll go alert the Falcone." The other brother said dashing off.

"I'll make sure to speak to the Hokage, and, obviously, ask to be the one to deliver the punishment." As the Godfather said that, he also sighed, and shook his head once.

"I so much wanted to go to sleep tonight." He muttered before dispersing in a cloud of smoke.

"So did I…so did I." Francesco replied with an understanding expression, going back inside just to grab Elisabetta and deliver her to Ma' Giovanni.

***Hours later***

The sun was dawning when a battered and tired Naruto stood wheezing and panting heavily, on the ground in the forest, the scroll of forbidden jutsus however wasn't in sight, a fact which the keen eyed Mizuki realized only when he retransformed in the brat's father, and that forced him to descend from his hiding spot. As Naruto slowly filled his lungs with air, he had a big wide grin on his face: he had managed to actually work on the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, and now was in wait.

"Naruto-kun!" the voice was familiar to the boy, as Francesco Giovanni appeared in the middle of the meadow where the boy had been training.

"Yes, _Capo_?" Naruto queried once more, standing into a seated position, his legs crossed.

"Did you learn the jutsu?" as his father queried that, Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"Jutsu? What are you talking about?" as he asked that, raising an eyebrow Mizuki stared back in disbelief.

"I mean the scroll of technique I got for you, after talking with your mother, it took a lot to convince her, you know…"

"You can drop the act, whoever you are." Naruto replied shaking his head.

"What are you talking about?" Mizuki asked once more, how could a boy see through his henge?

"You see, you made a lot of mistakes. First off, no-one in the Mafia uses appellatives like –kun, or –chan, or similar, when referring to one another, only shinobis from other lands do that I call my parents with appellatives as an exception. Then, I have called you capo as an honorific, and you haven't yet flinched at me, since the real capo of the Giovanni family is Ma' Giovanni, and that sends you on your nerve's edge every time I misspeak. Thirdly, you said you spoke with mother: if I know my father well enough, he'd first train me, and then run from Kaa-san's wrath. Fourth mistake you did was to say that I should shift the blame on someone else in the family. A Giovanni would never do that, even under orders. The fifth, well, it's that the scroll had several pages marked with *secret* *classified* *Hokage eyes only*, so I simply closed it and let it be." As Naruto said that, he had already stood up, a kunai in his right hand, and had assumed a defensive posture that consisted of staying as much on the side as possible, to minimize the area of attack available.

"So you didn't even read it? Well…seems like I'll have to kill you and then say I defended myself from the Kyuubi-host!" at that point, Mizuki launched three shurikens while darting forward to slash at Naruto with a kunai. As he was in mid-air however, he realized that the boy, once hit by the kunais, dispersed into a puff of smoke.

The next moment, from a nearby tree-branch, an explosive kunai launched itself forward, exploding as it impacted against Mizuki's flak-vest, that however dispersed to reveal a wooden trunk, result no doubt of a substitution jutsu.

"So you did learn the Jutsu!" Mitsuki said, from his hiding spot as he grabbed a set of tripwire, and prepared a swift trap to his location, before jumping backwards, to attract Naruto.

"You showed it to me once. It was all I needed." Naruto replied, with a wide grin as he actually walked to the center of the meadow.

"Though I must ask why are you doing this, do you have some sort of grudge?" querying that, Naruto assumed a thinking position.

"Did the Brujah offend you somehow? They're nice guys once you get to know…" a kunai threw itself at the boy, who obviously dispersed, being a shadow clone.

"…them, so it has to be something else." Another Naruto appeared into the meadow, a clone or the real one?

Mizuki waited in silence from his new hiding spot, just how much chakra did the boy have? He could conjure two, at most, and for short period of times, the boy was at his third? Just…

"You're just a monster, boy! The truth of you being the Jinchuuriki and the container of the demon that attacked Konoha leaves you indifferent?" as Mizuki exclaimed that, somebody tapped slightly on his shoulder, before a fist crashed straight forward against his cheek, sending the man to plummet from the tree branch he was on and crash on the ground.

"So what? You think I'm going to cry and complain? I'm angry alright, not because you tried to kill me," As Naruto said that, landing himself in front of Mizuki, "but because you dared try and frame MY family…and for that, I'm going to make you pay."

Naruto swiftly moved his hands repeatedly, and then exclaimed, to the top of his lung and burning through his chakra coils:

"Tajū kage Bunshin no jutsu!"

As thousands of perfectly created shadow clones appeared, all around Mizuki, the only thought that crossed the sensei was how that, that was indeed going to hurt.

Once Mizuki was reduced to a nice fainted person, Naruto slightly growled, already thinking of raising a Kunai and delivering the final blow, or maybe to break his legs off, instead, he turned around just in the nick of time to receive a full-faced punch from the most angry Francesco Giovanni.

"YOU STUPID KAMI BE DAMNED IDIOT!" grabbing him by the sides of the coat he began rocking Naruto back and forth, while yelling:

"Do you have any idea how worried you got me and your mother! Are you screwed in your head or something? I say you're getting punished till the rest of your life young man!" as he said that, he actually proceeded to throw him against a tree, while cracking his knuckles and muttering curses under his breath.

Naruto watched with a slight grin his father, who sighed in turn as he moved his right hand closer to the boy's face, and then ruffled his hair with a small smile.

"You did well boy, but next time you act as bait, I'm having your mother punish you…now that I think about it, she did go out in her combat gear…" Naruto sweat dropped, and paled.

"You think I can be questioned by the Hokage till morning?"

"I doubt it, since you *should* be in the training grounds in two hours, for training, last I recall that is."

"Damn…I'm beat." Naruto muttered, closing his eyes with a sigh.

"Well then, sleep all you want boy, I'll carry you back." As Francesco said that, he grabbed the not too heavy boy with a sigh, and brought him on his back.

"Thanks…Otou-san." Naruto whispered, before falling asleep soundly.

"You can grab the culprit." Francesco said, once he was sure that Naruto had fallen asleep, and Inoichi, together with a couple of Anbus, emerged from the tree tops and nodding, grabbed Mizuki, carrying him away in silence.

**Author's notes**

**So, I'm still trying to decide a good way to describe battles in Naruto while they use jutsus and the like. I'll keep trying though. Practice makes perfection.**

**Kind of hope for some reviews, but I'll keep on writing never the less. **


	4. Teamworking

Chapter four

Naruto actually woke up in time to get to the training grounds. Albeit to be more precise, he was woken up when his mother actually came back home, after one hour, and grabbing him by the neck proceeded to bear-hug him to crushing levels, which was made all the more worst since she was still in the iron lands' combat gear, which was more of a plated armor than anything. So, as Naruto actually managed to scramble for air, he still got his ear grabbed, and then brought down for breakfast, where a Francesco Giovanni who wasn't even looking tired stood, brimming with joy as he brought charred, black orbs that maybe, one day, could be considered scrambled eggs.

"Francesco!" Elena yelled, dropping Naruto's ear, but still using a Tanto to pin him to the chair, by having the small sword pierce through the clothing and sticking to the chair, but not harming him.

"What? You left them on the fire…I just took them down." Francesco replied, feigning ignorance. Why was it that anything not Tagliatelle-related ended up destroyed with him?

Was it a curse?

"Yes. I'm sure the paprika, the Tabasco and that thing over there that looks like a… what is that thing?" as she queried that, she pointed at a strange round mushy thing which had sort of green veins on it.

"A melon, smashed melon," Francesco replied nodding as if he was stating some sort of universal truth.

"Well, anyway…Kakashi-sensei said I shouldn't have breakfast…" Naruto yawned, "So it works in my favor, as I've just got to go…" as he tried hard to push the Tanto out from the chair, he realized his mother had moved a hand against the handle of said sword, and was staring at him with the same glare a Yakuza-man gives when he's pissed.

"What'cha talking about, runt?" she muttered, and Naruto could actually see a sort of grain stalk in her mouth.

"I-it's what Kakashi-sensei said!" Naruto blubbered, paling.

"Now, now, how about I come with you and meet this Kakashi-sensei, huh?" the fact that Elena had removed the Tanto, and was now in the process of sharpening it, was a clear hunch that nothing good would happen from it.

"Anyway, I have to go!" as Naruto dashed for the window, this time however he was stopped. Like any other time Naruto or Francesco tried to leave, it was actually a courtesy on Elena's side to let them go without too much insisting, but still, in this case, she made an exception and stopped on his track the young blond boy, by using the Shunshin no jutsu and placing a kunai near his throat.

"Boy. You are forgetting something," she muttered, staring at him with dead-set eyes.

"I…will grab something quick from a bar?" Naruto queried, hoping it was the right thing he had forgotten about.

"No."

"I'm going to be punished for having played bait?"

"Oh, you did that too? Good, then it is two things, and you got one right." Elena replied.

"I…I don't know Kaa-san."

"Your swords," she pointed out.

"But you said I couldn't use them yet, so…" Naruto was puzzled, what was that about?

"I know, but if you bring them, maybe your Sensei, if he's worth something, might be able to help you out too…got it?" as she said that, she removed the kunai from the boy's throat and ruffled his hair.

"Yes, Kaa-san!" Naruto nodded, before dashing back up in his room, to grab the long elongated tube that actually was the two Uzumaki Ninjato.

He then directly dashed out from the window of his room, making his way through the Giovanni's compound of rooftops and buildings, waving at some of the other members of his family, albeit more like cousins or uncles or aunts. It seemed that if there was one thing in the family, it was the need to have more family members, festivities like Christmas, a tradition that hailed from the land of iron, or Easter and the likes, were all done in the giant courtyard that worked like a sort of meeting point for all the families, and even if the courtyard was big, as it was a city square of its own, some of the family members actually had to stay in their home and watch from the windows.

As he jumped towards another roof, he heard a click, and a flash of light, before stopping to look around, perplexed.

After a brief moment, he kept running, but once more, a set of clicks, and flashes, caught him.

"Who's there?" Naruto queried, puzzled, but all he got as a reply was a set of feminine giggles.

"Naruto, smile more please!" at the familiar voice of Leonarda, known as Lea by her friends, came to his ears, he let out a loud sigh, rolling his eyes over.

"I'm in a hurry Lea!" he snapped back, starting to run once more, but still getting flashed every now and then, as the woman seemed to be following him.

"I must capture all your Kawai-ness Naruto, especially now that my main source of happiness has been cut down!" as she didn't relent from following him with ease, after all she was a Jounin, while he was but a recently made Genin, Naruto groaned as he could see the training camp in his sights.

He had actually managed to arrive there first, even with all the flashing lights that every now and then prevented him from seeing a thing. It had to be unhealthy for the eyes to keep on flashing with a photographic machine at his face.

Naruto landed on a tree branch, and from there he slowly walked downwards the tree's bark, sighing as he could use some sleep, they would certainly find him and probably wake him up when his Sensei was meant to arrive, so, till then, he could grab a quick nap.

As he pushed his back against the tree, and placed his hands on his lap, his legs crossed, he slowly drifted off to a light snore.

When he woke up, he could see the sun high in the sky, as the clouds slowly drifted lazily pushed by the wind, his head was resting on top of something warm and soft, and as he moved his gaze to his left, he raised an eyebrow, seeing how an extremely red Hinata was using her legs as his cushions.

She didn't seem to be such an active and direct type yesterday, or the days before, so he was naturally curious.

"Hinata-chan?" he queried.

"N-Naruto-kun! You…you're awake!" she blubbered with her face turning slightly red.

Thoughts of how to ask the question went through Naruto's mind, but he trashed most of them, and finally decided to wait until the Hyuga girl explained herself first.

"I…I can explain!" she stammered, which earned her a simple nod from Naruto, who simply didn't move his head from her legs, after all, they were comfortable.

"You were sleeping…and when I got near you, I sat next to you. B-but then you dropped your head on my shoulder and g-got more comfortable and…" as she kept on speaking, her face becoming darker shades of red, Naruto simply whispered.

"I understand Hinata-chan."

"N-Naruto-kun?" she hesitantly queried.

"Yes, Hinata-chan?" Naruto replied staring at her with his deep blue eyes, and a small gentle smile that sent the girl onto another flustered shade of red.

"W-Why are you not…" _removing your head from my legs? Do you love me? It has to be love, it's clear: he's in love with me! Oh kami thank you._

"I'm tired, and your legs are soft." As he replied that with a small grin, he actually purred a bit, as moved his whisker-marked cheek up and down Hinata's legs, a fact that made the Hyuga girl turn completely, and utterly, dark red from embarrassment, as her heart was about to give away.

"I…I…I…Naruto-kun!" as she simply exclaimed that, a heavy nosebleed sent her on her trip to the fainting-world, with a bright soul-like Hinata looking towards a brightly shining light up in the sky, while joyously crying tears of joy.

Naruto sighed, as he stood up, and looked around, he could see, near what looked like three poles, Sasuke, who was intent on training at hitting the wooden trunks with his kunais. Their Sensei was probably late, but still, he now felt a lot better, albeit his stomach suddenly grumbled from the hunger. He had managed to avoid having breakfast, but still, he was going to get it at lunch, or, if it took a turn for late like the last day, he would probably have a dinner worthy of being called a feast: a feast of torture and hell, because one can ingurgitate just so much food before feeling the need to puke.

He began walking towards the Uchiha, who turned around just enough to smirk and mutter:

"So, finished couple-talking, Dobe?"

"You finished jerking off in the corner, Teme?" Naruto replied with a shrug.

"So speaks the most average guy of our course. You should be honored to be in my team you know?"

"Last I checked, this was Kakashi-sensei's team, and when he's not around, there's no alpha Genin. Unless you think like Kiba that is." As Naruto replied that, with no ill tone in his voice Sasuke raised an eyebrow, but said nothing for a while.

"Is that a Katana on your back?" as he queried that, Naruto shook his head.

"It's two Ninjatos, my mother said it was a hassle to get them for the entire family, but it was my gift for becoming a _picciotto_ of the family."

"So you can do Kenjutsu?" Sasuke asked back, narrowing his eyes at the Dobe.

"No, but mother suggested I bring them here, in case Kakashi-sensei needs to know about the skills I have, and those I don't have but wish to have." As he replied that, Naruto scratched his head, "still, I don't think I'm going to use them for a while, for one thing, I haven't even taken them out of their scabbards".

This brought an anime sweat tear on Sasuke's temples, before shaking his head and muttering, his curiosity still piqued.

"Well, Kakashi-sensei isn't here yet, why don't you try and take them out? Maybe you'll see in what conditions they are".

Naruto nodded to his team mate's words, and bringing the elongated tube in front of him, he moved his hands to both the sides of the thing, as he actually realized, following Sasuke's words, the purpose of said contraption was to make the enemy think it was only one katana, while in truth, those were meant to be twin swords.

When he firstly tried pushing the swords out, nothing happened, like they were stuck because of something, like a chain. The next moment, he pressed something on the handle of the red-side scabbarded sword, and that Ninjato unsheathed itself, falling on the ground. Naruto quickly grabbed the sword, lifting it up to marvel at how it looked like the polished steel had never seen a day of rust, but more than that, he stared with a bit of surprise at the tip of the sword, that strangely made a nearly forty-five degree angle, he repeated it for the other Ninjato, and found out the same thing, albeit this one, judging by the handle, had the tip turned around at the same angle, but towards the other side.

Having both in his hands, Naruto tried to swing them around, only to feel a sudden and sharp pain at the palm of his hands, and having to let go of the swords with a cry.

"Ouch!" as he looked at his hands, he realized they had strange looking sores, like they had been grated against something. Staring at the swords' handle, he realized they had small fissures, vertical and horizontal, which were the probable cause of his sores, since those things nearly grated off his skin.

"Well, strange weapons for a ninja, self-inflicting wounds while fighting must call for a really dumb style." Naruto said nothing, but sheathed the swords, taking care not to harm himself anymore, and realizing that Hinata had awoken, probably after his scream of pain, and had moved quickly near the other two boys.

"Naruto-kun! Is everything alright?" as she asked that, worriedly, she gasped seeing how both the boy's hands were red, and scraped.

"It's nothing, really." Naruto minimized the fact, while Sasuke smirked.

"Yeah, the Dobe here can't even use his swords."

"Hey Teme!"

"Yes Dobe?"

"Aren't those your fan girls over there?" as Naruto pointed at Sasuke's back, the Uchiha rolled his eyes over and turned around, just in time to actually see his fan club arriving with a set of flags and giggling, and screaming.

"They shouldn't be in the training grounds. It's no place for civilians, and Kakashi-sensei should have booked it." As Sasuke pointed that out, he stared with an angry look at Naruto, and then concentrated chakra towards his brain.

"Kai!"

The next moment, the Genjutsu dispelled, showing that Naruto had just finished drawing a pair of black mustaches on the Uchiha.

"…when?" Sasuke queried the boy, curious, more than angry, as he didn't believe Naruto could have pulled it off, especially so close to him.

"It's a Giovanni trademark secret. They taught it to me since I was six, it's called Increased Disbelief, it's a really simple Genjutsu, that works its way slowly, and starts altering things a little at a time, so while it's useless in fast paced battles, the more the battle goes on, the worst its effects get. All you need is a simple hand sign to start it off, once you know the drill, but it's also easy to dispel. That's why if one uses it, it's best to kill the enemy swiftly, before he realizes he's in a Genjutsu of sorts."

Kakashi-sensei, who had crept upon his Genins, made a loud whistle of surprise.

"Nice to know that, now I'm going to be ready when you pull it up against me," as the silver haired sensei said that, he showed some bells to his students.

"Today's test is simple: you need to get the bells before the timer ticks off, if you don't then you fail, and you go back to the academy, furthermore, if you don't take a bell, you won't eat lunch and you will be tied to the pole for the rest of the day."

"W-what?" Hinata muttered staring in disbelief at their sensei, then turning to look at both her team-mates. Sasuke had a determined stare on him, while Naruto's blue eyes weren't at all fixed on Kakashi or on the bells, but on their sensei's right hand.

"You heard me right, now, please come at me with the intent to kill, or you won't even stand a chance," and, after a brief moment, he suddenly declared: "START!"

Sasuke and Hinata swiftly dashed for the woods, while Kakashi took out his Icha-Icha book, and smiled with satisfaction as both had gone and hidden from view, one of the fundamentals of being a shinobi.

"The basics of a ninja are to hide oneself well," he muttered.

On the other hand, Naruto Uzumaki Giovanni stood there, in front of him, his arms crossed, and then, after a small yawn, he muttered:

"I'm taking a nap. I can grab those bells off you in less than five minutes, after all." As he muttered that, he moved towards a tree, leaving an extremely surprised Kakashi-sensei, who couldn't believe what he had just heard. Did the boy just…well, did he just underestimate him, a Jounin? He'd have left a Nara get away for it, as they usually did so to come up with plans, but Naruto? He'd beat that smug attitude down in less than a minute, but still, this marked a big minus points for the boy, of whom Kakashi had thought better.

_The Dobe acts like an idiot, _Sasuke thought, _I'm going to get my bell first._

_Naruto-kun… Are you being serious? _Hinata thought surprised by such a display of security, but still a bit taken aback by such smugness.

As Naruto went back into his sleeping position, near a tree, Kakashi smirked but said nothing, and began turning the pages of his book, while obviously keeping an eye out for his three Genins. Still, not feeling anything strange, he sighed as the hero of the story got stopped once by another girl, before being able to complete his mission as the gutsiest ninja ever.

At that moment, Sasuke from his hiding spot threw a volley of shurikens and kunais at his sensei, and just as he was seeing them carve into his flesh, the sensei's body was replaced with a wooden trunk.

_Kawarimi no jutsu! Damn! He showed an opening on purpose and I fell for it! _As Sasuke thought that, jumping backwards to try and change his hiding spot, he heard a scream coming from the side, from where Hinata was.

Hinata had screamed at the sight of Naruto-kun being pierced and beheaded straight in front of her, but that had only lasted for a moment, as the next she had made the hand symbol that she needed to activate her ability.

"Byakugan!" as she yelled that, she managed to see that the body of Naruto had no inner chakra coils, thus being an illusion.

_I'm inside a Genjutsu!_ She thought as she swiftly yelled "Kai!" to dispel it, and began dashing towards Naruto and Sasuke, as she was sure Kakashi-sensei was still nearby, and alone, she had slim chances of taking him down. Maybe if they worked as a team…

Sasuke on the other hand landed on the ground, his sensei in front of him, smirking.

"Let's see what the number one clan of the village, the Uchiha, can do."

"I am not the same as them: I'm going to take a bell with my own strength!" _and then, I'm going to kill that person!_

Sasuke threw his shurikens forward, starting to move to the side, while Kakashi, dodging them, exclaimed:

"Such obvious attacks are useless!" but as it turned out, those attacks were meant for him to dodge to the side, and when a shuriken actually hit its intended target, a rope, it released a trap of launching knifes, that were however swiftly avoided by Kakashi.

Just as the silver haired Jounin moved to the side, from behind him, Sasuke smirked as he launched himself in a mid-air kick at the back of the sensei's head, which however was blocked by the sensei's right hand. As the Genin took the momentum with him, he threw forward his other leg, while at the same time moving his hand towards the bells that had been dangling from the Jounin's pouch for a while.

However he got strongly pushed backwards by his enemies' strength, and has Kakashi muttered:

"Yeah, you are clearly not the same as them." Sasuke began using hand symbols, and swiftly released.

"Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" _powerful fireball skill, _as a flaming ball of fire released itself from the Uchiha's mouth, it launched forward, straight where Kakashi was.

_A Genin shouldn't have all that chakra!_ Was all that the sensei thought, while he barely managed to hide himself under the ground.

As Sasuke was scanning around for his sensei, Hinata took that moment to appear with a bewildered look, and yell:

"UNDER YOU!" as the Uchiha took the cue, he was, never the less, too slow.

"Doton! Shinjuu Zanshu no Jutsu!" as Kakashi grabbed the Genin's ankle, he threw him underground just as he emerged from the dirt, actually leaving outside only the head of raven haired boy.

At that moment, Hinata pressed forward, in the Gentle Fist stance of Taijutsu.

_This is going to be problematic. _Kakashi thought, as he jumped backwards to avoid the first strikes of the technique.

"Sasuke-kun, are you alright?" Hinata said, without turning her head to see how the Uchiha was, since she didn't need to.

"I'm fine." He muttered, breathing heavily due to the ground's pressure on his ribcage.

"Hinata-chan, you know what?" as Kakashi queried that with his only visible eye assuming a happy face, Hinata stared at him with suspicion.

"What is it, Sensei?" as she asked that, she saw him take some kunais out of his pouch, and, jumping to the side, he threw them with strength towards were Naruto was laying asleep.

"Choose well!" he smirked at her, as Hinata, without thinking at all, began running forward, with a scream.

"NARUTO-KUN! DODGE!" as she passed by Kakashi's side, without caring for him, the Sensei smiled, and grabbing her by the arm, threw her to backwards, while at the same time sending a chopping hit at the back of her neck, making her unconscious.

"And that's done." He muttered, looking at where his kunais had hit, and staring perplexed at how the body of his Genin stood there, losing blood and clearly hit, maybe even killed, on the ground near the tree.

_Did I just kill him? I mean…I thought he'd have the spirit to swap himself with someone or something! _

It took him but a moment to Shunshin where Naruto was and stare perplexed at the body, with a sudden hunch, he united both his hands and swiftly shouted:

"Kai!" dispelling the Henge that had been cast on a wooden trunk.

Kakashi sighed in relief; at least he hadn't killed a student, but now the problem was where his student had ended up.

_I must admit he did an excellent job: he substituted himself while I was fighting Sasuke or probably when I was sending Hinata in a Genjutsu, but where is he now?_

As he turned around, he saw Hinata standing wobbly on her feet, but back up, looking at Kakashi with fury in her eyes, as for her, who was still under a henge, Naruto lay dead next to him.

"Hinata-chan…" he meekly started.

"MURDERER!" she yelled back, charging at him with fury in her eyes, her byakugan active, so, when Kakashi threw shurikens and Kunais at her, she swiftly dodged them all with her agility, or using her hands she deflected them in the air, as she closed the distance with her sensei, she entered a brief scuffle with him.

She swiftly pierced a chakra pathway on her sensei's right hand, that Kakashi had to use to block the blow to his Tenketsu, while she seemingly didn't care about conserving her strength, but simply going all out against him, targeting whatever hole in his defense there was, with a fury that rivaled that of the girls Kakashi peeked on when they discovered him.

"YOU KILLED HIM!" she yelled once more, but at that point, when Kakashi had to use both his hands to parry a strong, direct blow, Sasuke emerged from underneath the ground, from his right side, and grabbing his hand keeping him still in a hold, while from his left, Naruto did the same, grabbing the bells as the Sensei had been utterly shocked by such a display of team play, but especially, because Hinata actually stopped her hand at just a few inches from Kakashi's eyes.

"We got the bells." Naruto proclaimed, splitting them, and then, without care, handing them over to Hinata and Sasuke.

"Why are you giving them the bells?" Kakashi whispered, staring at that in surprise, to which he earned a shrug from Naruto.

"They're friends, Sasuke-teme needs it for his *Purpose* and Hinata-chan would have a tough time back home if she were to fail, I on the other hand would probably end up being trained and next year, I'd probably be stronger never the less."

"I see…" as Kakashi said that, he muttered:

"Just tell me…how!"

"You underestimated us, Kakashi-sensei." Sasuke replied with a smirk.

"But more than that, you underestimated a Giovanni's way of talking sense in people." As he added that, Naruto smiled at Sasuke and Hinata.

"You see, I knew that, as a Jounin, you'd still see us, or sense us, no matter what, so I simply choose to wait by feigning sleep, by the tree. In the meantime, I watched you fight Sasuke-teme, and when you went to cast a Genjutsu on Hinata-chan, I let you, but at the same time went to speak with Hinata after you left her there."

"But you were still under that tree!" Kakashi replied.

"I Kawarimi'd myself with someone else, Kakashi-sensei." As Naruto said that, he whistled, and another Naruto emerged from the bushes, before dispersing in a puff of smoke.

"That was…"

"Kage Bunshin No Jutsu!" Naruto replied with a smirk, "it even fools the Byakugan, as it shares the chakra among the clones…which is why, when I told Hinata I had a plan, and that she should just charge you when the Teme got in a bad shape, she thought you had actually killed me, which set her off into a more…convinced form of fighting."

Hinata blushed at that, but also she felt a pang of guilt, as she had been used for her emotions in that moment.

"Why wait for Sasuke-kun to be beaten up, Naruto-kun?" Kakashi asked.

"Because some words are better spoken to one who has taken a blow to his pride, if I had spoken to him too soon, he would have refused help, stating he could have done it all by himself, without help from no-one, and once you'd be warned by my previous attempt of uniting us, you'd be far more careful than you were as you thought we each fought alone." As Naruto replied that, Sasuke stared at him while narrowing his gaze: somewhere in his words he felt he had been insulted.

"So you used them both at the same time." Kakashi replied, but Naruto shook his head.

"Had I used them, I would have kept the bells, both of them, forcing them both to go back to the academy. I could have spoken to them during the fight, but that would have only made you wearier, and while Hinata-chan would have probably accepted, Sasuke-kun wouldn't have, not yet anyway. So, as I had to make sure everything went by with little problems, I gambled on this."

"You still haven't told me how you managed to go by undetected." Kakashi queried.

"Do you feel any chakra on me?" Naruto asked back with a grin.

"No…but willingly exhausting your chakra?"

"The clones had it all." Naruto replied, "All I had to do was wait, and preserve my strength for this final push."

"Clones?" Kakashi asked puzzled.

"ASSEMBLE MEN!" as Naruto whistled that, the ground shook, as fists emerged from beneath the earth, it was like seeing zombies emerge from a graveyard, only each of them was a clone, and there were over a dozen of those.

"Shouldn't you disperse them?" Kakashi asked.

"When I do that, I'll get their fatigue too, and since they had to dig with the kunais a sort of tunnel down below…I'd probably pass out." Naruto replied, as he did have a sort of pale complexion as of then.

"I see. Well then…you all pass." Kakashi replied.

_Naruto Uzumaki Giovanni, his chakra reserves must be astonishing to keep up all this clones, he's got a nice brain, and I doubt he'd leave any of his team-mates behind. Furthermore, he actually managed to convince the Sulky Uchiha to act as a team member, and broke the Hyuga's reserved nature…_

"Good. So I'll pass out now." Naruto muttered, as the clones around them dispersed, he fell on his knees, and drifted away to sleep.

Kakashi actually wanted to grab him before he fell on the ground, but Hinata had done so on one side, while Sasuke had actually moved to grab him on the other.

_Seems he's got it into him…to change people._ As Kakashi thought that, he smiled once more.

"Well then! Tomorrow we start our first missions! Get some sleep will you all! By the way, bring him back home if you want to." And then, looking around for his book, which he had seemingly lost during the fight with the Uchiha, he realized it had been scorched and was laying charred, in a corner of the ground camp.

As he moved to take it, Sasuke grinned, while Hinata stared perplexed, as, when the Sensei grabbed it, he was threw forward when a rope tied to form a loop knot grabbed him by the right foot, sending him to dangle upside down.

"Was this the reserve plan?"

"Yep." Sasuke replied with a smirk.

_Devious bastard._ Kakashi muttered, staring at the fainted Naruto.

***Minutes later***

Hinata, but especially Sasuke, had never set foot into the Corleone's area of the city. Not because it had been prohibited, as Sasuke had no-one to prohibit him from going where he wanted, unless it was the law, while Hinata simply had training with her father, which she hated but was forced to do, and so she never had time to walk much around town, especially to an area her father didn't like.

He always lamented how the Corleone's had taken over the police force that should have gone to the Hyuga clan, after the Uchiha's dismay, but a police force should have been neutral in the first place, so outsiders actually took the part better, as even the council had to admit that, since the land of iron had been the very symbol of neutrality for centuries, people coming from that country had to be respected.

The problem wasn't that they set foot into the Corleone's area, the problem was that, after a few steps, they could feel it: people were staring at them. Men, women, boys and girls, people in the bars or that were shopping simply stopped and stared at them as they walked, and that, that alone made both Sasuke and Hinata nervous.

"It's like they never saw a Konoha ninja." Sasuke muttered.

"Maybe they know Naruto-kun?" Hinata queried.

"Ohi" a voice called at them from the side of the street, as a Jounin with orange hair and red eyes stared at them for a moment, "care to explain?"

"Explain what?" Sasuke retorted, what was the deal with these persons?

"Why are you carrying Naruto? Or better yet what happened to him?" there was a general murmur of consent among the people around them, a fact which made Sasuke puzzled.

"We were training with our sensei and…" the red eyed woman moved forward, with a slow, yet deliberate swaying, and then, once he got in front of them both, she muttered:

"That's not what I' masking kid. I'm asking why out of you three, he seems to have taken the short end of the deal." As she said that, both Sasuke's and Hinata's expression turned even more puzzled. Was Naruto really that loved in this area?

"Well, the Dobe decided…" Sasuke would have said more, but suddenly he felt fear, as his legs wobbled and his breath seemed to be lacking.

"As a Preziosi, I am able to use specific perfumes, or venoms, to mend the mind of those around me, boy. The only reason I am not killing you here, right now, is because you probably slipped your tongue…did I make myself clear?" as the woman asked that once more, Hinata held more strongly onto Naruto's arm.

"Y-Yes, sir" Sasuke muttered paling to visible levels.

"So, explain…I'm waiting." As the woman, Leonarda, crossed her arms and assumed an angry stare, Sasuke gulped, before starting to speak.

"We were tested by our sensei, and Naruto brought up a plan to pass the test, which we actually did, but he had to plan before-hand and as such he had to exhaust all of his chakra and…"

"What did that IDIOT DO!" as Leonarda yelled that, she grabbed Naruto by the coat's neck, and pulled him on her shoulder.

"You two, you're coming with me, double speed!" as she said that, she started dashing towards the Giovanni's area, just how stupid could that spiked blond guy get!

Hinata trembled, staring at Sasuke who, after seeing how some people in the crowd were keeping an eye of them, and some others had just so casually placed their hands on their swords, preferred not to risk it.

"Let's follow her Hinata-san." Before dashing off behind the Jounin, who still was far faster than him.

Hinata followed, as she was pretty sure some of the house wives had taken from their groceries bags strange metal … baseball bats.

When they stopped, they were in front of a building, who had written in a clear neon sign the words:

"Ma' Chemist, Infirmary, Idiots beware"

"Idiots beware?" Sasuke muttered perplexed.

"Ma'?" the name, to Hinata, sounded a bit familiar, but she couldn't quite recall where she had heard it before.

As she stepped inside, nervously muttering:

"H-Hello! Is anyone there?" she moved into the clean shop that held no dust, but a wide variety of plants in vases, or powdered herbs or spices, as she neared where the counter was, she couldn't help but make a slight jump backwards, as a sort of enormous mass of muscles stood there, with a pink apron, and a really, really, pissed look on his face.

Sasuke that had moved behind her was in the process of taking a step backwards, but in doing so, his back touched something. Something that wiggled. Turning his gaze upwards, he saw another mass of muscles, albeit this one looked far less pissed, and with a green apron.

"Customers?" the green apron guy said.

"We…we are Naruto-kun's team mates! Please don't kill us." Hinata whimpered, which earned herself a perplexed stare from both Gianni and Giacomo, a stare which soon became a loud laughter.

"My, my! Good to see you two, you must be the Uchiha!" as the green apron guy, Gianni, said that, he actually grabbed Sasuke by the shoulder, and with a grip worthy of a steel bulldozer, he lowered his head to be at the same eye level as the kid, while muttering.

"Please, keep an eye out for our loveable idiot, would you?"

"Y-Yes I will." As Sasuke replied that with a loud nodding motion, he got a strong punch to the side of the shoulder, followed by another bout of laughter.

"Good boy! I like him already!"

"As for you, pretty one," as Giacomo said that, staring at Hinata who didn't know wherever to blush for the compliment, or being afraid for the sheer size of the man who said that, "you must be Hinata-chan right? Naruto spoke a lot about you during the years."

_Naruto-kun did that? I…I…_

"Y-Yes." She blubbered.

"He's upstairs, first room on the right, Ma' is taking care of him, I'm sure she won't mind if you go and see how he's doing, and, with luck, you might even get free lunch."

"Sure, why not?" Sasuke shrugged, especially because if he had to choose between walking out now or afterwards, he'd choose the latter, maybe he might even be able to have a decent lunch, since no-one cooked for him at home. He was hungry, as was Hinata, since after grabbing the bells they had immediately brought Naruto back home and hadn't had the time to grab a bite somewhere.

As Hinata hesitantly started moving upstairs, followed by Sasuke, Gianni and Giacomo both grinned at each other.

"I bet Naruto's going to get himself a girlfriend in less than a month." Gianni smirked.

"I say in a week of time. I'll bet a month of wearing the pink apron on it." Giacomo stated matter of fact.

"Oh…you're pretty cheeky on it. Fine, you're on!" Gianni replied.

As both the Brujah turned to welcome a new customer, in the meantime, Hinata had carefully opened a door on her right, and had been welcomed by a pungent smell, that seemed a mixture of various spices. Inside the room was the woman who had so *gracefully* confronted them, while on the other side stood a really old lady, who was wearing a cowl on the back of her head, and was smashing things into a mortar with a pestle, in the middle between the two, lay Naruto in a hospital like bed.

"You two better explain everything in detail now." The woman sneered, but was quickly shot down by the elderly woman words, which came in such a strict dialect of some sort that the only thing both Hinata and Sasuke understood was:

"_Statte bona!" _after those words, though, the rest was in a language there was no way in the world they could understand.

The elderly lady gave something to drink to Naruto, after which she turned to the two boys and assumed a rather displeased look.

"You two should eat." At those words, both the Genins came to love the elderly lady.

"But…" the other woman tried to say something, but the elder one replied:

"Hush, Leonarda! They are Naruto's team mates, so they are his friends! Come on now: prepare the table while I put the water to boiling temperature! _Maccheroni in fricassee!_" as Leonarda nodded, and went to the side of the room where a wooden table actually was, together with a drawer from which she took out a table cloth that she began spreading on the table, and then the various cutlery needed. Hinata and Sasuke moved near Naruto's bed, where the elderly lady, *Ma'* spoke with a small grin.

"So Hinata-chan, you've grown," at those words, Hinata recalled who the old lady was, and why the name *ma'* sounded familiar to her.

"You were the kind baa-chan who sent the bullies flying!" as she said that, Sasuke raised an eyebrow, as it seemed there was some kind of history behind it, but it didn't much interest him.

"So, is the…" dobe, but he didn't say it, after hearing a *shink* sound made him realize that Leonarda had a set of pointy knifes in her hand, "Naruto going to be fine?"

"The Naruto," as Ma' chuckled, "is going to be fine, but you can call him Dobe if you want, after all, he calls you Teme, and what is fair is fair."

"How did you know?" Sasuke was shocked, unless obviously Naruto had told the lady beforehand.

"A little bird told me." Ma' Giovanni replied, with another chuckle.

"Urgh…I'm hungry." Naruto muttered, opening his eyes.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata exclaimed.

"Dobe," Sasuke muttered.

"Hinata-chan, Teme, you brought me here?"

"Yes they did." Leonarda interrupted, "passing straight through the Brujah's side of the compounds, if I hadn't been there, they would have eventually been into a pinch."

"Brujah? Aren't they the guards? Why would they attack us?" Sasuke queried.

"You might not know it, but Gianni and Giacomo down below are the two candidates for becoming the next _capo _of the Brujah, and they really do like Naruto a lot. As do the rest of the Brujah."

"Why? What did he do to earn that trust?" Sasuke was curious.

"He beat them all fair and square into a ramen-eating contest, then into a pasta eating contest, and finally into a janken contest."

"Only that?" as Sasuke asked just to be sure, both Hinata and him had an anime sweat drop on their foreheads.

"No, I'm messing with you: he's just the kind of guy the Brujah like to have around: direct and cheerful…and he did tell them how to find out pranksters. The eating contests during the festivities were just a plus."

"Lea!" Naruto replied turning a shade of red, to which however, Sasuke gave a smirk as Hinata felt a tinge of…jealousy? Could Naruto-kun, her Naruto-kun, be that close with the woman? Maybe he liked older women?

"So the Dobe has an older onee-chan type of girlfriend." Sasuke replied, to which however, he got himself a roll over eyes from Naruto and a gracious giggle from Leonarda.

"No. She just determined by her own standards that I was a cute sight for her eyes, and do trust me, she can be such a hassle sometimes…"

"Hey!"

"Still you didn't use any suffix when you spoke with her." Sasuke replied.

"We rarely use them in the family. We're all one big enormous family, with its quirks and problems and solutions." Naruto replied with a fond smile, that sent Leonarda on an *aw* phase, and on a set of flashes from her new photographic machine. Hinata did feel better though, like a weight had been lifted.

"So with that out of the way…On to LUNCH!" Ma' Giovanni exclaimed, raising her fist in the air.

**Author's notes**

**Another chapter went by.**

**I suppose I don't need to explain what *Maccaroni* are. **

**Janken is rock/paper/scissor.**

**Statte bona: Stay calm. (stay good, literally)**


	5. Blurred Connections

Chapter five

"The package is at checkpoint Delta." The buzz in the radio tensed Sasuke, who then jumped forward, right fist clenched and ready to strike.

The *package* jumped on a higher branch of the tree he was on, and then, after dashing straight ahead, got caught up in…

"Gentle Fist style! One hit Kitty-Katty stop!" as Hinata yelled that, she applied a single strike to a single pressure point of the cat, who fell down limp, alive, but still paralyzed.

"I think I got the short end of the stick." Naruto muttered, emerging from the bushes with scratch marks and the like.

"We used colored sticks to decide who'd pursue the monster, Naruto-Dobe." Sasuke replied with a smirk.

"N-Naruto-kun?" Hinata queried as she looked into her ninja utility belt for some band-aids.

"Yeah, I know that Sasuke-Teme, still, let me whine about it, okay?" Naruto replied with a heavy heartfelt sigh, as Hinata moved closer with some band-aids.

"Ehm, if you want, Naruto-kun, I can…"

"There's no need Hinata-chan, they'll close by the time we get to the Hokage, I've got amazing regeneration powers!" Naruto smiled, dismissing the band-aids with a wave of the hand, which left Hinata paralyzed, just like the cat, only with a furious blushing red color.

"Damn…couple talking again Dobe?" Sasuke growled.

"Ehi Teme, if I had been in a team with you and a fan girl I'd have done the same, so I feel you...Jealousy is such a fickle beast," as Naruto grinned that, Sasuke rolled his eyes muttering something about where Naruto could stick the band-aids.

"You caught Tora in less than three hours?" Kakashi appeared from nearby, Icha-Icha book in hand, albeit this one was a new copy.

"Repetita Iuvant, as my… *Kaa-san* use to say." Naruto trembled, as he thought back at what happened the night of weeks before, when he actually told how he had passed Kakashi-sensei's exam to his mother. He still felt the lingering and ghostly pain in all of his body, after the massive set of chakra control training he had been forced into, since it was obvious that had he known how to control it, he wouldn't have needed to actually remove it from his chakra coils, risking death, on the plus side, he now perfectly knew how to walk on any liquid substance, even when bubbling or under an earthquake.

The Team 7 kunoichis reached the Hokage palace, paralyzed cat in the hands of Hinata, and waited with ease as the Hokage deemed it time enough to hand them over another D-mission.

"Aw…" Naruto puppy eyed, staring at the wooden long desk which had, on the other side, the Hokage, Iruka-sensei, and the Godfather himself.

"What is it Naruto-kun?" The Hokage queried, seeing such a display of sadness at the prospect of weeding out a garden once more.

Instead of immediately replying, however, Naruto turned his puppy-eyed face to the Godfather, who looked at him for a moment, before nodding.

"Hokage-sama, please…I CAN'T TAKE ANYMORE WEEDING!" as Naruto yelled that, raising his fist high in the air, he kept up his rant, "It's been weeks of grabbing a cat! A SAME DAMN CAT THAT SHOULD BE NEUTERED FOR KAMI'S SAKE! Or weeding, pruning, helping old ladies cross the road. A C-MISSION: Something at the very least worthy of being called A MISSION and not a BOYSCOUT action!"

"Naruto-kun! You should know that Genins should do a set of D-missions for months before actually getting on a C-mission one!" Iruka-sensei yelled back, using his *Big-Face *tm* Jutsu*.

Sarutobi on the other hand was surprised that he hadn't been called Jiji in Naruto's plead, but as he turned his gaze to his left, he saw the Godfather silently chuckling under his hands, brought forward in such a way that they both helped in keeping his chin up, with his elbows planted on the desk, and at the same time covering his mouth.

Hinata clutched her hands tightly watching in awe at the outburst of her Naruto-kun, while Sasuke, for once, made a grin in acceptance and heck, even understanding, he too wanted something better.

"I take it he asked you first, isn't that right, Gianfranco?" Hiruzen queried, taking a puff of smoke out of his pipe.

"That he did. Furthermore I had the perfect first mission for a _picciotto_ like him and his team, just, staying there, taking dust! To make it even better, you can couple it with your C-rank protection mission right over there, two birds, with only one stone!" As Gianfranco finished chuckling, Kakashi-sensei turned a puzzled look to the Hokage, it was the first time he actually had a student of the Corleone's branch of families, so he didn't quite understand why it was going to be two missions, in one bout.

"As you all know," Hiruzen muttered, taking another puff of smoke, "missions are divided into categories, D-missions being the easiest, then C-missions, B-missions, A-missions, S-missions, SS and SSS missions being literally something at the Kage or impossible level."

"After the merging of the Corleone with the rest of Konoha, we still kept on receiving missions from the Land of Iron itself, which, while making sure they maintain their neutrality, they still hand over some of delicate nature that they can't possibly solve by themselves…as they must keep neutrality, you see." The godfather added, which made Kakashi smirk, under his mask, yet he said nothing. Basically it was using Konoha-nins as scapegoats for the Iron land dirty jobs.

"Still, these missions are…well, *Bonus* missions that only those affiliated with the Corleone family can take, while they are doing those of Konoha, and which earns themselves, and their teams obviously, a pay equal to the mission. In this case, you would be paid for a C-mission and a D-mission." At those words, Naruto's eyes shot up in surprise, as he muttered in a yet still audible complaint.

"What…do I have to weed gardens while doing ninja-stuff?" but the Godfather replied with a small grin.

"You'll have to deliver a letter to a certain Gatou, in Nami no Kuni, he's been trying to expand his shipping business over there in a way that goes against _il codice d'onore_, and as such he is to be warned once."

"And since I actually do have a mission for you, a protection mission for someone who needs to go to Nami no Kuni, this makes it all perfect. Two missions, only one walk, nice pay…" the Hokage continued.

"Fine by me then," Kakashi nodded, as for Hinata and Sasuke it didn't matter, it was still two missions in one.

"Then, bring in Mister Tazuna please," as the Hokage ordered that to one of the ANBU in the room, the door was swiftly opened, closed, and then opened again, as a clearly drunken man, with grey hair and a grey beard, entered the room.

"What's this? It's just a bunch of super brats." The man had a sleeveless v-neck shirt, a pair of dark brown pants, and a towel around his neck. A strange pointed hat on his head made Naruto start chuckling for a moment.

"What's so funny brat?" the man queried, clearly irritated.

"Your hat…it looks like an ENEMA!" as Naruto pointed that out doing his best not to laugh out loud, Hinata turned read and Sasuke tried, really, he tried, to repress a grin, while Hiruzen sighed and the Godfather simply kept a cool face.

"NARUTO!" yelled in anger Iruka, as Naruto finally managed to repress his laughter.

"The shortest one especially looks more like a clown than a kunoichi," as Tazuna muttered that, he strangely felt the back of his hair straighten up, like under fear of something. Still, it was but a second.

"He's a Giovanni, Mister Tazuna-san, rest assured that as long as he has a mission, he will carry it through." Gianfranco commented neutrally on that, ignoring the remarks that made his grandnephew look like a clown.

"I am the super expert bridge builder Tazuna! I expect you lot to provide me super protection till I get back to my country and complete the bridge!"

"Super…" but Naruto bit his tongue, as the Godfather eyed him pretty, pretty badly, at least, from what he could understand.

"Good, then we will depart in two hours, from the Konoha's main gate. Please everyone: gather the necessary means of survival for a couple of weeks." As Kakashi said that, he Shunshin'd away, with a happy smile in his only visible eye, too.

***Scene Break***

"I-I'm here!" Hinata panted, as she made a final dash to reach the rest of her team-mates, with a bag filled with anything she could think of would prove useful. More than a back-pack it would have been more appropriate to consider it a back-dresser, drawer, chest, and probably infirmary too.

The fact the young dark blue haired girl with pearly eyes could actually manage to lift said bulk was a surprise, but more than that the fact that it was even able to stay in balance on her back and not fall down defying thus any law of physics ever created.

Sasuke had a camping backpack with the necessities and the rations needed, much like Tazuna and Kakashi had, but Naruto? Naruto's backpack was double the size of Hinata's, and yet he wasn't as much flinching for the weight as his team-mate was.

"Did you pack your house in there, Dobe?" Sasuke smirked.

"Actually…I think my mother did, but if you want to tell her differently…" Sasuke shivered, paled, and furiously shook his head. He recalled after the surprisingly good lunch, made by Ma', weeks prior, the steel hurricane that had barged in, shot Tantos and Ninjatos while wielding a Katana and demanding to know why her son had risked death for two stupid bells.

Kakashi was actually going to mention that it was too much to carry, and it would tire him out sooner, but he too had met Naruto's mother, who had quite clearly made it clear that, if her adorable cute son was going to take another death risk like that one for two stupid bells, he'd separate the silver haired Jounin from his manhood, force him to eat it, and then, maybe, let his own dogs feed upon his flesh.

That was relative mild compared to the stares that the Brujah guards sent at him when he walked around the village, or what one of his Jounin colleagues, Leonarda, had told him. He was tempted in treating Naruto like a glass crystal, but the boy wouldn't probably have it.

"Well…we can go." Kakashi muttered, with a heartfelt sigh, as they began walking in earnest towards their destination.

"Naruto!" they had taken just fifteen steps, Kakashi had actually counted them, out of the village, that a voice called them to a halt.

Naruto sighed, as he turned around, just in time to see his father arrive dashing towards him, a scroll in his right hand.

"YOU DAMN BAKA!" as he yelled that, he executed his favorite punishment technique: the flying scalp. It was nothing more than a running slap on the head, at least, it looked like that, but in truth it was a set of high-speed quickly connected knuckle hits to the person's head, which hurt, a lot.

"OUCH! OTOU-SAN!" Naruto yelled bewildered.

"You forgot the letter. Remember to deliver it for once…and don't you dare open it." With said final growl, Francesco Giovanni left to get back inside, but stopped just for a moment.

"This is just a B and D-rank mission, however, expect the unexpected, and, worst to worst, know that you have permission," then, without another word, he actually disappeared in a twirling of leaves.

"What was that about?" Tazuna muttered, gulping down half a bottle of sake.

"Nothing much: just my otou-san trying to show how worried he is without actually showing how worried he is," Naruto shrugged, but he did send a mental thank to the old man for getting the scroll for him, he'd have thought his mother would have already given it to him, among the set of stuff he had, but still.

"Well, anyway. We march!" Kakashi exclaimed with a happy tone, as the group started walking once more.

Hinata however couldn't help but think how Naruto's family looked kind of…warm, and fuzzy. She had had that feeling ever since she had begun, well, stalking was a bad word to say it, following, yes, following the boy, and she was the second member of the *Kawaii Naruto* club, which held its meeting in an anonymous form for everyone. A sharp contrast with hers, where everything was cold and, if she had to say it, on the edge of a sword. Her father trained her mercilessly, but more than calling that training, it was a one-sided torture on her, even her sister managed to defeat her in spars, and she was afraid, afraid, to go to bed one day and awake with the caged bird seal on her forehead. That's probably what got her even closer to Naruto, he was the warmth in her life, and his smile made it up for all the tortures she usually had to suffer. If only she had enough courage to talk to him without too much stuttering.

"Hinata-chan," she nearly jumped backwards, when she turned her pearly gaze to Naruto, who was giving her a small smile.

"Y-Yes, Naruto-kun?"

"Well, when we get back from our mission, since it's our first mission out of the village, my Kaa-san was planning a feast for the clear success of it, so…she said to bring the entire team and even the sensei. You heard me Teme, Sensei?" as he queried that, Tazuna smirked.

"What a momma's boy."

But moments later, he felt from the look in the Jounin's face, that he had just committed a horrible, horrendous mistake, just because he had swiftly turned his face around with a look of utter fear in his only visible eye.

Even Hinata had made a slow *eep!*, while Sasuke had taken a single step backwards, as Naruto had simply made a happy smile, turning around with such a creepy, utterly soul-rending smile that Tazuna, for once, felt the need to stop drinking.

"You're right!" Naruto chirped out happily, sending sweatdrops on the head of all his team-mates and of the sensei, "but family is important, it's the first rule of the Corleone's Mafia."

_Until one of your family members kills the rest of your clan…_Sasuke's thought darkened, but the boy said nothing. Sure, he could have taunted Naruto, but yet again if he had he wasn't sure he'd survive the feast in two weeks, and he wasn't going to pass up on eating some more of homemade cooking.

"I…see." Tazuna re-promised himself to keep the insults to the broody Emo guy and the … well no, he couldn't insult that frail looking girl that was shivering and had a red look on her face, so only Emo guy and the pervert book reader.

"I'll think about going, Naruto-kun." Kakashi replied.

"I'll probably be there too Dobe." Sasuke replied.

"I…I W-Would be…H-honored!" Hinata stuttered.

"Good! Mother was sure you'd all be okay with it…she mumbled something about forcing you if you didn't comply though." As Naruto's voice trailed into a mutter of things nobody wanted to hear, the voyage kept being easy as they walked for a couple of days without encountering anything. No ill weather, or rain, or brigands.

Just as they were passing a puddle of water, Kakashi realized that, since it hadn't rained for over a week, those puddles weren't a natural formation in the ground. To his surprise, even Naruto had stared quizzically at one of the puddles, and had nonchalantly placed a hand in the inside of his coat.

"Hinata-chan, Sasuke-kun…it rained pretty hard yesterday, didn't it?" as on cue, Sasuke raised an eyebrow, before realizing that Naruto's hand was in his coat, grabbing a kunai, and his eyes were rolling over to a puddle of water by their side. Hinata on the other hand was starting to think that maybe Naruto was starting to go mad, but she'd be there and she'd nurse him back to sanity, with all her love. Yeah, she thought that, but still, as on cue, she yelled:

"Byakugan!"

_So much for secrecy._ Was the general thought of both Sasuke, who still threw shurikens at the puddle, and to Naruto, who grabbing a Kunai placed himself in front of Tazuna, while Kakashi was caught by surprise by the speed of the two enemy ninja, who swiftly jumped out of the water and with a mad dash encircled him with a metallic chain that went from the gauntlet of one to the gauntlet of the other.

In the blink of a movement, Kakashi was cut into pieces, as the demon brothers of the mist charged forward their target, more likely passing by him, as Naruto narrowed his eyes, he pushed Tazuna on the ground, while at the same time jumping upwards, throwing his Kunai behind him, hitting the back of one of the demon brothers. Sasuke charged through, using one of the enemies' gauntlets to push himself up with a hand, and landing on their head as both tried to turn around to attack once more, just in time for Hinata to swiftly get into position and strike the left one in the pressure points near his elbow, forcing the gauntlet, which seemed to rely on chakra, to retract and fall off.

The other one felt the Kunai that was on his back being torn downwards by the brat that was on his head, when he jumped backwards.

Then, as if on cue, both the demons saw darkness.

Kakashi appeared in the middle of the two demon brothers, grabbing them into two chokeholds, and knocking them out.

"Tazuna-san, we need to talk," Kakashi muttered, staring with his one eye at the bridge builder, who said nothing but nodded.

"These look like Kirigakure chuunins, known to fight till death." As the silver haired Jounin spoke, one of the two spoke, his voice a bit deformed by the gas breathing mask he wore.

"How did you know?"

"There's not going to be a puddle in a sunny day, with a week without rain." Kakashi replied.

"Then why did you let the brat fight?" Tazuna queried.

"They could have been after me, after all," Naruto replied, shrugging, "Or Hinata-chan for her Byakugan, or Sasuke-Teme for his sharingan, or have a grudge against the Icha-Icha pervert…but at the moment when they charged through, they aimed at you. I confirmed it when I pushed you down and I jumped upwards. Their gaze was all for you, *super bridge builder*, isn't it right sensei?"

"As Naruto-kun said." Kakashi confirmed with a nod. Yes, the brat was smart.

"They were weak." Sasuke muttered, "To be defeated by academy level Taijutsu."

"We'll leave them here and I'll send a message to retrieve them." Kakashi muttered, "Still, the point is that this mission is now at least B-level, considering there are ninja coming at you, Tazuna-san. While I'm sure you had reason, this has now become out of our duties, and thus we must now act accordingly."

Hinata gulped down, a B mission? Those were for Chuunins! She was a Genin, a near failure at that too!

"I guess we should return to the village and…" as Kakashi suggested that, Naruto exclaimed.

"Hell no! We're carrying this through! As Sasuke-Teme said, these ones were weak! I'll protect the drunk-enema hatted guy myself if I have to!" as he bellowed that, an anime sweat-drop ended up on Tazuna's forehead, well, better that than a no.

"Then it's best if you hear the entire story…" Tazuna sighed, "it turns out there's a super dangerous men looking to kill me: the wealthy shipping magnate named Gatou."

"From the Gatou company? Isn't he one of the wealthiest men around?" Kakashi queried, with surprise on his face.

"He's more than that though." Naruto and Tazuna both added at the same time, a fact that surprised the rest of the group.

"Want to continue the story, kid?"

"I'm a picciotto, of the Corleones, belonging to the Giovanni's family." Naruto replied with a small snap, "Anyway, I was briefed by some of the Nosferatus' bloodline kids, the Salvatore family, that he secretly uses gangsters and ninjas to sell drugs and other illegal items. What's worse is that, from what the Godfather said, he doesn't follow the code." This made Naruto take on a slightly distasted smirk.

"The code?" Tazuna muttered.

"I suppose I can explain some parts of it…" Naruto sheepishly placed his right hand behind his neck, "basically, he goes beyond what being an organized crime syndicate is. He sucks dry businesses, he forces labor and enforces slavery as he tortures and uses inhuman means of achieving what he wants, and so on. Basically, he has no honor. He can call himself a gangster, but he'll never be one. We are also delivering him a message, by the way, from the Godfather, Don Gianfranco Corleone, so we'll see by then; maybe he'll have a change of heart, as Don Gianfranco's letters can be very persuasive."

"I've got to ask how some kids know that stuff." Kakashi muttered.

"Oh, the Salvatore family grows on information gathering, that and stealth assassinations. They are brutishly strong and cunning, just to say, they usually they take turns with the Brujah to guard Konoha."

"I never saw a Salvatore guard," Kakashi replied before narrowing his only available eye "which means they actually take their stealth seriously, isn't it?" Naruto nodded in reply.

"W-We…WE WILL PROTECT TAZUNA-SAN no matter what!" Hinata actually yelled that, before starting to puff and take in deep breathes. There, she had managed to say it. Sasuke looked at her for a moment, since she had actually waited for like, three minutes, before voicing her opinion.

"You heard Hinata-chan! What about you Teme?" Naruto quickly took the ball thrown at him.

"Tsk, fine," only because he'd get to eat in less than two weeks' time a feast.

"Seems like we'll still protect you," Kakashi sighed, shaking his head. He'd have to ask the ANBU to have a talk with the *Nosferatus* of whom, he himself, had never heard anything about. Heck, maybe that meant they could actually do their jobs.

Tazuna smiled, he didn't have to use his heartwarming/heartrending story he had so much prepared.

***Scene Break***

"We'll take the path though the vegetation to be sure." One of the two men rowing the boat through the sea whispered quietly, as they passed a bridge that was nearing completion.

"We're nearly there," whispered the second man, as after a couple of minutes, they passed through mangroves, until they reached a neatly hidden dock.

"This is what I spoke about…" Naruto muttered, as he looked with a saddened look at the dirty and covered in mist streets, at the shacks and the hunger in the faces of the people around.

"It's all going to change once we get the bridge finished." Tazuna replied, as they began moving towards the house of the bridge-builder.

As a thick mist began rolling out in front of them, Sasuke suddenly tensed, as did Kakashi, especially when Hinata screamed:

"Show yourself now!" pointing her gaze towards a bush. She had learned from her previous mistakes, and had silently kept activating and deactivating her Byakugan, as Naruto had come to her and had explained that she should keep doing the hand signs in a hidden spot in one of her pockets on her jacket. She had that loose cream jacket for that reason! At least, Naruto had suggested it was for that reason, since only an idiot would have gone around with something clearly white when Ninjas should wear dark or camouflaging colors. Hinata hadn't said she particularly liked that jacket, as it made a matching set with her dark blue hair. She hadn't because she was pretty sure Naruto would have replied once more, and would have probably convinced her to take something broody. Hinata preferred to live in blissful ignorance that white was fine, and the argument was final.

"I don't think that's going to work." Sasuke muttered. Great, so she did something wrong again. She'd have to cry in a corner now and hope Naruto would forgive her.

"I think it worked perfectly." As a broad, male voice spoke, everyone suddenly tensed, as a well-built man whose face was covered in bandages stood, an enormous broadsword wielded with one hand, and leaning on his back, appeared straight in the middle of their formation. The most tense of them all was Kakashi himself, as he was the one who actually knew who the man was.

"Zabuza, Kirigakure no Kijin, the Demon of the Hidden mist…" Kakashi muttered that as his right hand slowly went to his forehead protector. He had to be very careful, or he was going to lose all of his team, and he wouldn't survive another heart breaking thing like that again. As his sharingan went into full view, he charged through with unbelievable speed, while Naruto jumped backwards, taking the old man back with him, and Sasuke and Hinata jumped to the sides.

Kakashi's kunai embedded itself deep into the side of Zabuza, but instead of red blood, a droplet of water was all that fell down, the next moment, Zabuza's water clone exploded into bubbles, as the real enemy appeared behind Kakashi, ready to cleave him in half, only to discover, much to his dismay, that the one he had cut in half was a…

"A water clone jutsu? How could you copy that in the mist?"

As Zabuza was bewildered, he felt the cold metal of a kunai against his neck.

"It's over." Kakashi whispered.

"Ha…you think I'm that easy? You Kawarimi'd yourself when you were talking about who I was right?" as he said that with a grin, the number two water clone of Zabuza dispersed, just as the real one began a cleaving crescent motion from behind the silver haired Jounin, who just barely managed to get down on his knees and avoid the swiping move, but as Zabuza kept his momentum, he pushed his strength against the handle of his sword, that had embedded in the ground, to kick Kakashi far from him in mid-air. He would have charged in, for a finishing blow in midair, but he had to stop himself, as on the ground there were Makibishis, caltrops, probably placed by the damn copy-cat nin while being thrown away by the strength of the kick.

Kakashi landed in the water, coughing out some of it, while behind him, Zabuza Shunshin'd in a split second, making a swift set of hand symbols and muttering.

"Water prison no Jutsu" as his left hand kept being stretched to hold Kakashi into a bubble of water, an escape proof prison of water, his right hand finished the symbols required for another Water Clone Jutsu.

"You think being a ninja is about wearing a head protector, huh? Well, time to teach you brats a lesson!" as the water clone of Zabuza spoke, charging forward, Hinata froze in fear whimpering as the sword was about to cut her in half for its astounding speed,, she closed the eyes, waiting the hit that never came.

"Brujah Style: Fist bump!" as Naruto charged straight through his right hand looked quite metallic in texture and color, and hitting the flat side of the hidden mist ninja, it sent it on another trajectory, so instead of cutting in two the Hyuga, it simply fell diagonally against the ground.

"Urk! Remove yourself from my sword!" The water clone yelled, as Naruto's feet had stuck to the surface of the clone's sword.

Hinata eeped as she felt Sasuke grabbing her and Tazuna, and bringing them both further back.

"Gangrel Style: Claws of the wild!" As Naruto launched himself in midair, strange osseous protuberance sprouted from his knuckles, just as the clone jumped with his sword to slash him in half, he was met with a barrage of…kunais?

"What the…" Naruto waved his now protuberance free hands at the water clone, as the distraction was enough to make him land.

Sasuke on the other hand, with the clone in mid-air, launched himself forward against the real one, while making the hand signs.

"Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" as Sasuke launched from his mouth the flaming ball, that went straight for Zabuza, the Hidden Mist ninja swiftly moved his right free hand hurriedly launched a water clone in its path, stopping it from harming him.

"Sasuke, grab!" as Naruto threw at him a larger variation of a shuriken, the raven Uchiha grinned.

"Evil Wind Shuriken: Shadow Windmill!" the shuriken launched itself to the side, aiming at the real Zabuza, who grinned, as his free hand grabbed it on time, just to see another one, who had been hidden in the shadow of the previous, continue its trajectory against him.

All that the Hidden Mist ninja did was jump, and soon enough, a set of kunais embedded themselves onto his side, with explosive tags attached, forcing him to drop the water prison and swiftly Kawarimi himself with the water clone who had stood in shock and awe nearby, watching the scene unfold.

Kakashi, once freed, jumped backwards, avoiding the explosion in the nick of time.

"That's…Genjutsu." Zabuza muttered.

"Precisely, Giovanni's are cunning Genjutsu users, didn't you know that?" Naruto grinned, "Still, you should be careful not to waste too much time on me…as Kakashi-sensei is coming at you!"

"Wh…" before he could end his sentence, a water dragon launched himself forward, hitting Zabuza on the back and sending him straight on the ground, gasping for the possible broken ribs and internal fractures.

"It's over." Kakashi muttered, as he ran back to the rest of his team, kunai in hand, "You're going to die Zabuza!" but before he could actually turn his words into action, two senbon needles stuck themselves deeply into the enemy Hidden Mist ninja, causing him to fall over, dead.

"He's dead in fact." A boy wearing a long moss green, striped turtle-neck sweater and a split skirt in matching color that reached down to his knees spoke in a matter of fact way. On the outside of that, he wore a green blue short kimono with white edges, and around his waist a green brown obi, in the same fabric as his sweater, with a fringed trail.

"A Hunter-nin." Kakashi commented, as the boy simply jumped down from the tree branch, where he had been till then, observing the battle, and moving to the body of Zabuza on the ground.

"I have come to retrieve my prey...I was waiting for a long time for the opportunity." Kakashi still moved closer too, to check on the pulse of the swordman of the mist. Not feeling any, he nodded.

"He's dead."

"Then I will dispose of this body, since it holds many secrets," as soon as the Hunter-nin whispered that, he touched the body of Zabuza, and disappeared together with him in a twirl of leaves.

A light breeze soon moved over the remaining ninjas of Konoha, with the bridge builder Tazuna being the first to break the weird silence.

"Well…come over to my house and relax then! It's the least I can do!" as he said that with a happy cheer, the tension melted, as Naruto sighed out in relief, moving closer to the rest of the group.

Kakashi covered his sharingan eye once more, and took up a happy cheer too. As Hinata too sighed in relief, Naruto simply moved closer to her with a calm attitude, but suddenly, just that calmness made Hinata, but especially Kakashi, tense.

"Hinata-san." Naruto muttered, staring at her with a cold gaze, a fact that made Hinata shiver. Why was it San now?

"Y-Yes, Nar-Naruto-k…"

"Use the –san." Naruto muttered with a slight anger in his voice, which made the young Hyuga girl shiver.

"Now, Naruto, there's no…" Kakashi was about to interrupt, but Naruto raised his right hand, in dismissal.

"_Porta rispetto alle donne_, that's the reason I haven't slapped you, Hinata-san. Now listen well, because I won't be repeating myself, ever." As he snapped out, Hinata shivered, trying to make herself smaller, what did she do wrong?

"This is not a training exercise!" Naruto yelled, "In a battle you have to keep your damn eyes OPEN. YOU ARE A HYUGA. YOUR frigging eyes are there for a reason! The last thing I expected from you was to close your eyes and wait for Sasuke-Teme to come save your sorry excuse of a Kunoichi's ass!" Tears started forming on Hinata's eyes.

"Naruto." Kakashi's tone was getting heavier.

"No, she needs to listen, and she needs to listen NOW." Naruto snapped back at Kakashi, "because she *will* die if she closes her eyes whenever an enemy comes at her!" the tone of Naruto was more of a worried one though, as Kakashi sensed it, his sight grew a bit softer, giving Naruto the chance to finish.

"Hinata-san, we are a team: I'll cover you if you're in danger, as would Sasuke-teme. Still, we need to know you'd do the same, but more than knowing it, we need to know you'd actually DO IT!" Naruto snarled.

"When I was being flung right and left on the clone's sword, you should have charged IN with the gentle fist style! Instead you cowered and had to be saved by Sasuke-kun!"

"I-I…" _I do what? I'm useless? My father is right? Am I going to fail the clan? If even Naruto is yelling at me, am I really so much of a failure?_ Hinata's thoughts were in turmoil, she didn't know what to say.

"Listen here, Hinata-chan," Naruto whispered his tone softer, "we are a team, through thick and thin we'll stay together, but as a friend, if you won't be able to overcome your fear in battle…then I suggest you abandon being a ninja, and take on a civilian life. You will die otherwise, and it would pain me to lose a friend." As he finished speaking, Hinata's face flushed red as she realized it: Naruto-kun was simply worried about her!

"I…I'll do my best, Naruto-san!" Hinata exclaimed, determination in her eyes.

"Then you can drop the appellative." Naruto grinned as a reply.

"Hey brats, lovey dovey couple time can wait till we get out of here." Kakashi teased as they began moving towards the bridge builder's house.

***Somewhere else***

"Zabuza-sama, you shouldn't move too much after forcefully removing the senbon needles." The hunter- nin whispered, looking at the man who had saved her from dying in the cold and unforgiving Mizu no kuni land.

"Haku, I feel there's something in my pocket." As Zabuza muttered that, Haku, the girl dressed as a boy hunter-nin, moved her hand slowly over to the pocket in the swordman of the mist trouser. Blushing just so slightly as she did that.

Out of the pocket came a crumpled letter that Haku stared at in surprise.

"Somebody must have put it in my pocket while I was fighting the brats and the sharingan Kakashi…read it out, Haku." Zabuza muttered.

The girl complied, opening the letter carefully and taking out a crimpled note.

_Greetings, Zabuza Momochi, swordman of the mist. _

_We have to agree that it would benefit greatly the Family if you were to turn your back on Mr. Gatou's wealth, and strive to accept a compromise with us. We know of the Kekkei Genkai of your student, Miss Haku, and would be much glad if you were to consider placing her under the protection of the Family, as well as you. Your status of Missing-nin would be removed, and you could strive to become an excellent Konoha shinobi, even taking your own team._

_Know that nothing eludes us, for we are those who creep in the night and in the shadows._

_I hope it's clear that we knew you would be meeting the Konoha team, which had one of our members inside, as you clearly now understand which *family* I am talking about, as its clear that we know much more than what this simple piece of paper can hold..._

_We're making you an offer you cannot refuse, Zabuza Momochi, have a *change of heart* and accept to come back to Konoha, from there onwards, you have the word of the family, that no harm will befall you or your student._

"It's unsigned…" Haku had done her best to keep in the emotions riling into her. Someone knew she was a female, well, she thought she had hidden it well with the male clothing and all, but it wasn't that the most shocking thing: it was that they knew of her bloodline, but most of all, these people must have had a really powerful ninja to have him slip something inside of Zabuza's pocket, without him realizing till later on.

"…" Zabuza stood in silence for a moment, before muttering, "Scrap the letter and burn it, Haku."

"Yes, Zabuza-sama." As Haku did that, she could see the conflict in the Missing-nin's face, accept, refuse, what if it was a trick? What if it wasn't?

"Zabuza-sama, whatever you will choose, I will be there for you, as your tool." As Haku said that, Zabuza smirked, but said nothing.

"I'll have time to think about it, those Konoha ninjas aren't leaving till the bridge is done." With that, Zabuza actually began thinking what would be the best solution to the problem at hand, but more than that, he started replaying the fight between him and the ninjas, trying to come up with how the blond haired guy, because it had to have been him of the Giovanni family, had managed to give him the slip. Had to be a Genjutsu, but when?

**Author's notes**

**Another chapter goes by.**

**I still can't for the love of Kami reason between using the Japanese names for the jutsu or the English one.**

**Dictionary:**

**Porta rispetto alle donne: Respect women.**

**Repetita Iuvant: It helps to repeat (latin)**

**Il codice d'onore: The Honor code.**


	6. Hidden Side

Chapter six

Naruto was chanting happily, as he stood watch over the workers at the bridge.

"_Nei quartieri dove il sole del buon dio non dà I suoi raggi." _Like this place, covered in mist, with light drizzle every now and then.

"_Ha già troppi impegni per salvare la gente,che è d'altri paraggi." _Somebody had actually taken on the song, strange. He thought he was the only one in the area, as his mission was a D-level mission for the godfather. Still, this was a Salvatore. The lyrics had been slightly changed, precisely to be used as a code.

"_Una bimba canta la canzone antica della donnaccia!" _Naruto replied with a small grin on his face, meeting family, even if only after barely a week out there wasn't bad at all.

"_Quel che tu non sai, non-solo qui l'imparerai, solo qui tra le mie braccia!" _as the reply came, Naruto nodded his head, when he felt the presence of someone behind him.

Deciding for his better judgment, he didn't turn around, as whoever it was, had known perfectly well what was going on. 

The man behind Naruto wore no headband protector, but had a black thin metallic mask on his face, as well as a Katana on his back, on his right shoulder, which sported a shoulder protector, stood the Kanji for *Absolute*, while he was wearing long black pants, he had an overall dark blue shirt, his left arm sleeveless and bare, showing kanjis as tattoos, with the words *Death* *Principle* *End*.

"Objective?"

"Gatou."

"Reason?"

"Delivery."

"Possible. Tonight. Wait."

"Yes."

Then the man dispersed, as it had been nothing more than a water clone.

Kakashi looked at the scene puzzled, from where he was hiding, he hadn't managed to read Naruto's lips, because as if on cue, he had placed his hand on his mouth, but the man behind Naruto had seemed to stand still for a while, before disappearing. He'd have to query the boy, as well as for the thing the boy had put into Zabuza's pants, that moment when he thought no-one was seeing him, while the swordsman of the mist had Kawarimi'd himself with his water clone, he had jumped down while throwing a Genjutsu'd pebble with the message bundled together and had hit with a precision that an average Gennin wouldn't have been able to.

He had to crack the mystery, but that could wait after the mission.

Placing more cracks after what had happened the night before, well, that would prove to be problematic.

*The night before*

"I say you are all going to die!" Inari, Tazuna's grandnephew yelled at them, while they were sitting at the table, after Tsunami, Tazuna's daughter, had offered them dinner.

"…You lost someone you loved recently, didn't you?" Naruto queried simply, making Inari's eyes shot open in surprise.

"How did you…"

"Know? My family loses someone every week, or month. I've been to more funerals than I can count. Lost more uncles, aunts, cousins, some I never even got the chance to meet. That's the life of a Shinobi though, to understand the pain of loss and still go on living." That was the first cue that something was definitively wrong with this Naruto, as Kakashi was pretty sure Iruka had told him he was a prankster, a smiling tornado of happiness and who didn't think much at all. Either Iruka's description of Naruto was biased, or something was wrong.

Hinata stared at Naruto with a saddened look, while Sasuke muttered something completely wrong.

"Then they were weak." Sasuke's eyes bulged, as a kunai stopped inches from his face, swiftly grabbed by Kakashi, who had saved the Uchiha swiftly.

"Do not insult the family, Uchiha." Then Naruto had stood up in complete silence, and had excused himself for the night.

"Naruto!" Kakashi had wanted to reprimand the boy, but he had already left.

"Sasuke-kun… Why did you say that?" Hinata carefully said.

"He should avenge the dead family members, not *live on*! The weak live on, the strong fight for vengeance!" Sasuke snapped back, standing up, if a bit shocked for not having seen Naruto throw a Kunai at him, and then leaving for his room, that Tsunami had prepared for him, Kakashi and Naruto.

"Hinata-chan, can you go grab Naruto?" as Kakashi asked that, Hinata had nodded, moving out to look for the blond haired boy, the object of her crush.

_Come on Hinata-chan! You can go to him, and maybe, have him forgive Sasuke, and then…maybe he'll thank you, with a k-kiss! Yeah, a k-kiss and then he'll hug me and then…_ as Hinata turned redder, she realized that, even with her Byakugan, Naruto seemed nowhere nearby.

She had taken a hunch, moving towards the bridge, and she had been right-on. Some workers were working the night shift, and Naruto had…multiplied?

Hinata had seen him do that once, the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, and when she had queried her father, he had replied it was a Jounin level technique, which required a lot of chakra to use effectively.

She simply stood behind the corner of the house, while Kakashi, who had followed her through the roofs, sighing as he rolled his only available eye around, and, after taking out Icha-Icha paradise, starting to read through it, waiting for the Kunoichi to actually move and speak with her other team-mate.

A feat which did not happen for a good five hours, so much that Kakashi actually asked Hinata to go back to Tazuna's house and let the Giovanni steam off by himself.

*end flashback*

Kakashi silently Shunshin'd in a twirling of leaves near Naruto, his Icha-Icha book at hand.

"So, anything strange Naruto-kun?" he queried.

"Nothing much, couple of thugs tried to play tough: got scared by a weak Genjutsu, so I sent them on their way." Naruto shrugged, as he kept on staring ahead, his blue eyes watching the fog slowly creep around the coast, the water of the ocean sparkling and the sound of the waves crashing against the shore.

"You know of the Uchiha massacre, right?" Kakashi hinted.

"I know: it's the reason the Corleone's family took a spot in the Konoha's council. Konoha needed a police force, and the Corleone needed a new place." Naruto replied.

"Why is that?" Kakashi was interested: he didn't actually bother much on the reasons why the Sandaime had accepted the Corleones, and the rest of their relatives, so easily.

"The land of iron is self-sufficient. To achieve said result, there is a strict enforcement of the rules concerning marriage, having children and eating rations are ensued regularly. There are forced labor hours, and the only way out is either through keeping up with the compulsory military service or money donations…it's not the Iron land's fault, it's just that the country is cold most of the time, and there isn't simply enough food without hard work on the fields." Naruto spoke clearly, as he recalled his history lessons with Ma' Giovanni, who used to say, in a set of words that he too hadn't understood at all, a reason for which he usually had Francesco coming along, "We worked for food, not for money."

"So the Iron Land's daimyo let a good chunk of his population go?" Kakashi queried.

"Not exactly: he let first the Corleones go, then, when the space provided by them leaving had already been tackled by others, he let the Giovanni go, and because of that, he had to let the Spacca go, since only Ma' Giovanni is the reason the Spacca are under the Giovanni and not the opposite."

"I think there's a story about that…" Kakashi's eye *smiled*.

"Yeah," Naruto rolled his eyes, "the Spacca war-Kiai has a verse added just because of it. Though if you ever hear the Spacca war-Kiai then you'd better be on their side." Kakashi sweat-dropped, he had heard, from his Anbu days, story of what five ninja of the Brujah bloodline could do together with a single *Kiai* the verse that samurais let out when swinging down their swords, to increase its speed and power through the natural flexing of their muscles.

"Anyway," Naruto kept speaking, "after them, it was the Galante's turn, followed by the Preziosi's, and then the Salvatore and the Falcone, finally it came the turn of the last branch families, the Briatore."

"So basically, they moved to Konoha to be freed from the Iron land's rules, right?" Kakashi understood that point, but still, all of that only for a police force?

"Yep, in exchange, I know for certain that the godfather offered the Hokage four things, but I only know of one, the police force." Naruto replied, "The others are a secret for the Wiseguys."

"Wiseguys?" Kakashi queried.

"_Scugnizzo_, is the slang for civilian, _Picciotto_, is the slang for Genin, _Fratello_, is the slang for Chuunin, Wiseguy is the slang for Jounin, Capo is the slang for family head, and it's used with extreme respect, and Don well, it's the _Capo dei Capi_, the strongest out of them all, the most respected and the most honorable. Like the Kage."

Kakashi nodded, he'd forget about it in a couple of minutes, just as the new paragraph rolled in, with Atchiko jumping half-naked into a pool, where Momotaru was hiding.

"Anyway, you needed something sensei?" as Naruto asked that, the copy-cat ninja nodded.

"Yeah, I wanted to train you lot in chakra control…you were the only one missing." Naruto nodded back, standing up and following Kakashi, while the two dashed towards a slightly out of the village meadow, Sasuke was already there, trying to…run on a tree?

Hinata, who had the style of the Jyuken, the gentle fist, was an expert in chakra control, and was standing on the side of the tree, looking with a bit of uneasiness at Sasuke, maybe she wanted to help him, but still, the scornful look of the Uchiha stopped her, in fear he might *bite* at her.

Naruto raised an eyebrow, and, once the exercise had been explained, placed his right hand on the tree bark, using its fingers as a mean to travel on it, reaching straight next to where Hinata was in height and grinning.

"Chakra control? Check. The Giovanni's training ground is based on absolute control of chakra, or you risk falling in boiling mud…and it's a hassle to take it out of the hair, trust me."

"Fine then, try and walk on water now, Hinata-chan, while you, so called *chakra control freak*, you can go back to the bridge. Sasuke…keep trying." Naruto jumped down from where he was, and then dashed with a wide smile back to the same position he was moments before.

Sasuke growled and muttered under his teeth.

"I'm going to beat that Dobe; I'll have this learnt by the end of the day."

Hinata felt uneasy as she left Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke-kun to move near the bridge, where she took a small dirt road downwards, to reach the base of the bridge.

There she looked at the waves crashing against the rocky beach, and puzzled, tried carefully placing her right foot on the water. It worked for a moment, but that happiness was substituted by meek *Kya!* as she fell face forward in the water, and gasping for air, crawled back on the rocks panting and sputtering salt water.

It wasn't as easy as it seemed.

Maybe she could ask for help from Naruto-kun? He'd help, certainly, at least, she hoped he would, but then she'd have to go look for him, and if she distracted him from work?

She tried once more, determined, and once more she fell under the water.

Right now, the young Hyuga Heiress was drenched, but that still didn't stop her, as she removed her coat, which was just extra weight, and tried again. She fell into the water once more, but she still didn't give up. She had to become strong, so that Naruto wouldn't worry too much about her.

She had to become reliable, so that Naruto would look at her like a…woman, and maybe have dinner together where a spark would make them love each other until…she blushed, turned red, and then started to roll in the sand, wearing only her purple T-shirt and her tight trousers, her face blushing as the sea-water actually evaporated from her face for the embarrassment.

That's when she heard a small chuckle.

She turned her head as if on cue, to see Naruto staring at her from under the bridge, upside down, looking at her with his blue sky clear eyes and a gentle smile, waving at her, before back flipping down and landing gently on the water. As he moved nearer, Hinata could see him with a rose in his mouth, a white perfect mantle, and his eyes doing all the talking there was ever a need to be. She would then be taken by his perfect hands and brought into the water, where they would have danced under the music of a wonderful classical piece.

From his spot of sentinel on the bridge, Naruto stared down below at the Hyuga girl who was his team-mate, she had out-right started hallucinating, probably from near chakra exhaustion, and was happily giggling to herself.

He would have wanted to intervene, really, but he was busy elsewhere, as he had a slight problem of thugs to solve.

"I say this ki…" the first nameless thug, with nothing more than a pocket knife, fell to the side, a hit in the stomach more than enough to take him down.

"You!" the second and the third one yelled, as one had an iron tire while the other one a rusty dagger, more dangerous for the possible risk of infection than for its tip.

When the second thug raised the iron, Naruto swiftly hit him under the armpit with his left hand, using his right leg to swipe at the enemy's right leg and send him tumbling, while holding his side. Using his right hand, he swiftly grabbed hold of the third thug's right hand, which was holding the dagger, and sending slight amount of chakra to his fist, he broke his wrist.

"Only warning, back off...and bring a message to Gatou…a Giovanni wants to deliver a message to him," as the broken-wrist thug nodded and ran, soon followed by the other two, while the bridge workers, who had been afraid till then, smiled while thanking him and started getting back to their work.

With a sigh, Naruto turned to stare at the young girl, still fantasizing in the rocky beach.

Did she really think it was a game, being a ninja? It wasn't his duty to teach her though, he was barely a Genin, someone else was meant to. Still, she'd learn. She'd learn or he'd make her learn.

"_Amen_," Was all that Naruto muttered, as he resumed his position up above a scaffolding of the bridge.

"Dad! Can you buy me a pair of shoes?" a voice whimpered down, which made Naruto turn his stare downwards, to what looked like a girl no more than four.

"I'm sorry honey, but we need nails for the wood panels." A sympathetic father replied, with an awry smile. The land of Waves was poor after all but still, Naruto couldn't help but smile when he saw the father search around in his pockets for a crumpled note, not more than 50 ryos probably.

"How about you go and give this to Kaa-san? I'm sure she'll come up with something." The little girl nodded, before dashing away.

Naruto turned his gaze back on the bridge, maybe he'd put up a good word for the village, they certainly could use the backbone of the Spacca family.

*Flashback-years before*

"So…ready for buying school equipment time?" Francesco queried with a grin, looking at the boy who stared back at him with his blue eyes, opened up wide with excitement, as he nodded back, quickly.

"Good! Then let's go. You're going to need…" turning his eyes to Ma' Giovanni, who had swiftly handed him over a note, he sighed, shaking his head.

"I never realized *how* much stuff there is to buy," as he stood up, Naruto followed, albeit a bit hesitantly.

"Ehm…Otou-san… I can… go without some stuff you know?" the boy didn't want to be a hassle for his adoptive father, who looked back at him with a puzzled look and raising an eyebrow.

"Kiddo." He said with a grin, "You're family now, if you need this stuff you need this stuff, furthermore I *ain't* going to discuss with the _capo_ of the Giovanni." As his grin became a chuckle, he scooped Naruto up on his right shoulder, heading for the door.

"See ya later ma!"

"See ya later Baa-chan!"

"_U CAPPUTTU!_" came as a reply, but the two were already out of the door and into the Giovanni compound. Naruto grabbed onto the side of Francesco's head, as he wasn't sure the man would catch him fast enough, if he lost his balance.

"Look there, if it isn't my dear friend, Francesco!" that had been the first meeting with the heir of the Preziosi family, Romano, whose father at the period was still alive.

"Romano, I'm going supply shopping for school." The reply from Francesco actually came with a grin.

"Damn it! Now I can't smug it all over your face about how Lea-chan was so cute buying stuff!" Naruto actually was puzzled by the way the man displayed his emotions with…exaggeration, but he said nothing, looking at him with a perplexed gaze.

"Well then _scugnizzo_, you happy to go shopping with your father?" Romano had turned his gaze to the young boy, who had nodded.

"Good! I'm Romano, by the way, and you have to be Naruto, right?" Naruto had nodded again.

"He's a bit shy recently, the after effects of meeting the entire Giovanni and Spacca family last week." Francesco replied, repressing a chuckle as Naruto shivered, recalling the Baa-chans, the Kaa-sans, the aunts and the cousins who had literally pinched his cheeks till they were on the ground or hugged him. It had been nice, but it had also been extremely traumatic, especially when the Spacca's turn had come, as those women were more like body-builders rather than graceful feminine kimono-wearing females.

"Well, that's the family attachment of the Gangrel bloodline right? Still I wouldn't survive being forced to attend every birthday/funeral/marriage: I'd get fat by the end of the week."

"Yeah, anyway we have to go, Ma' was preparing the meat, so we'll have to be back by lunch...no ramen today." As Francesco waved goodbye to Romano, and kept moving, leaving the Giovanni's compound and entering the market district of Konoha, Naruto decided he would walk on his legs, and so, holding the big hand of his father, they started moving from stall to stall and from shop to shop.

It was strange. At first the shopkeepers frowned, then they realized who was holding his hand and were forced to keep a smile, albeit it did look fake to the boy, they'd probably have wanted to kick him out, but they dared not, especially because nine times out of ten, there was a Brujah guard standing inside the shop, who smiled at the boy and waved at Francesco.

"Hum, everything is accounted for, I suppose." His father said at a certain point, looking at the list, and barring the last object: the backpack.

"Maybe I should have started by the backpack, you know?" he actually pointed that out, as he had been carrying everything else on his head, with a demonstration of extreme balance that had still made Naruto smile at how funny the man was.

"Well, in one week you start school, so, I say it's time to give you your allowance, it's going to be monthly mind you, but how you spend it is up entirely to you...mmm, yeah, that will do." As he looked into a shop, he smiled a moment.

"Wait here for a moment: I'm going inside to buy you a gift. No peeking," as Francesco pointed that out, handing the backpack with everything inside to Naruto, who paled seeing how heavy it was, Francesco made his way inside the shop, and Naruto, not wanting to disobey, stood by the side, looking at the people pass.

As he kept staring, something hit him suddenly, dirtying his orange jumpsuit that he had refused to part with. Then another object hit him once more, the crowd actually dividing in those who'd thought it would be fun to hit the demon boy with rotten fruits and vegetables, and those who didn't care. The only concern of Naruto, who was used to this, was to make sure the backpack was safely closed, so the inside wouldn't be dirtied.

So he was there, at the corner of the shop, waiting for his father to come out with his gift, and, after a couple of minutes, probably because he was taking long, the villagers started throwing stones and pebbles.

Those actually left some bruises, but still Naruto didn't move.

Just as one of the villagers was about to throw another stone, the door of the shop opened and everyone froze.

Francesco Giovanni had bought Naruto a wallet, and was now staring with a *I am not seeing this* look at the sight.

"Otou-san?" Naruto hazarded as a question, a droplet of blood falling down along his right cheek, as his father silently handed the wallet to Naruto, while the crowd actually turned to stone at the words coming from the demon kid's mouth, and then the Giovanni muttered:

"It will take just a second."

Then he had cracked his knuckles and the crowd had screamed.

"Gangrel Dark-Style: Teaching the lesson!" as Francesco's fist connected with one of the throwers, a probable Chuunin considered the flak vest he had, Naruto watched in awe as the fist became a throwing movement in one swipe and fluid movement, as Francesco's knee raised up for what to Naruto looked like only one hit, but in truth was far more than one. The Chuunin had screamed before fainting from the pain, as the Giovanni hadn't stopped at him, however, as Naruto stared at how he grabbed by the legs a male civilian and then proceeded to smash him on the ground twice, before throwing him against a wall.

Some Brujah guard actually watched the show, debating wherever to enter the fight or not and on which side.

In the end, before anyone ended up killed, they decided to stop him, while the count of the wounded reached the dozen number, a couple of Brujah in the number, because they actually body tackled him one at the time, before going all-in to stop him his rampage.

Naruto recalled his words, mostly, when he emerged from the pile of fainted or wounded Brujahs as the crowd actually parted ways under his gaze.

It had been the first time he had ever had a serious look on his face, as he turned to Naruto, moving closer to him and ruffling his hair:

"Family sticks together, always and in any case, if you have a problem, speak, and I'll come up with something. I'm your father after all."

*end of flashback*

"Seems like everything is going to be fine," Naruto sighed it was the last hour of his watch. His prolonged watch, because the Uchiha hadn't shown up, and the Hyuga had been under the scaffolding, trying to force herself to climb the rope up, to speak with him to change the shift, since six hours before. His stomach was grumbling, but he inserted his right hand under the left side of his coat, and removed from one of its internal pockets a bag of chips.

"Chouji would be proud;" He muttered, staring at how the fog was strangely increasing in number, the workers growing wary of it.

Then, in a flash, the workers fell down, incapacitated, as senbon needles flew in specific body parts, hitting the sensitive nerves, and those who didn't fall because of the needles fell to the blunt side of the sword of Zabuza, who had moved swiftly.

Hinata had stared, a bit scared but otherwise unscathed, at the senbon needles flying, and had activated her Byakugan just in time to deflect one.

She silently steeled herself, as Naruto descended from the scaffolding.

"Hinata-chan," he whispered.

"Hai, Naruto-kun?" she replied, oh great, in the midst of battle she wasn't stuttering, and yet all she could speak of was battle plans, perfect, you build relationships on battle plans!  
"Go and call Kakashi-sensei." Naruto whispered, "We can't take them on, but I can stall them."

"Na…" Hinata would have wanted to say something, but the hunter-nin appeared swiftly behind her back, her senbons in hand, and as she threw them, Hinata puffed in a cloud of smoke, as the real one watched from the side, Kawarimi'd away in exchange for a Kage Bunshin.

"Go now, I can stall them." The real Naruto whispered, or at least, what she thought was the real Naruto, as they all had the chakra coils.

"But you said not to be afraid." She whispered back, biting her lower lip.

"That and being suicidal is different." Naruto then looked at her, who was still undecided, and rolling his eyes over grabbed hold of her cheeks and whispered, bringing her face closer to his.

"Hinata, I don't want anything to happen to you, we can't take them on together, so please, go and call Kakashi-sensei: you are the fastest among us."

Hinata clenched her fist and nodded, dashing away, as Naruto, the real one, jumped out of his hiding spot while the clone dispersed, granting him the knowledge of the clone.

-Clone memory-

"So, I read your business proposal." Zabuza muttered to his clone.

"I didn't, that the Godfather's offer." Clone-Naruto replied.

"I see, so what were you told to expect?" Zabuza narrowed his eyes, as his hand went to the handle of the sword, Haku on the other side of the Konoha's ninja, senbon needles in hand.

"A yes, and then I would be giving a location and a time, or a no, and then I would be running for my life." Clone-Naruto replied.

"I take this offer isn't known by the rest of your team-mates." Zabuza replied.

"Everyone has a test to take. This is my team's first C-mission: the Godfather found fitting to give me my first D-mission…needless to say our missions are harder." Clone-Naruto replied.

"Well, call me a foul, but I'm interested." Zabuza said, for the first time actually showing a hint of a smirk, as he assumed a more relaxed attitude.

"Zabuza-sama, they might be lying to us to collect the ransom on our heads." Haku suggested.

"I understand perfectly your concerns: that's why wherever you wish to go or not is solely based on your decision. Still, I would suggest never the less leaving Gatou's side, because I have been tasked to deliver him a warning from the Godfather himself, and usually nobody follows through…a pity." Clone-Naruto shook his head, before adding, "I will now dispel, as I'm a Kage Bunshin, the real me will keep going on with the deal."

-End clone memory-

Zabuza nodded, as Haku instead tensed, when the young boy dispersed in smoke, and the real one appeared to the side, in a sort of stand-off position.

"So, the location?" Zabuza queried.

"Five kilometers north-east from Konoha, there's a small ruined shack. That's the place, be there in six days, at dusk."

"Zabuza-sama…" Haku worriedly started a sentence, only to be interrupted by the swordsman.

"I'm tired of running, Haku, as you are too. Still, if it's a trap, know that I will find you for my revenge, boy." As Zabuza pointed that out, Naruto nodded.

Haku stared nervously between the two, the man and the boy who both seemed to gaze at each other with indifference, until in the end, Zabuza dashed to the side of the bridge, Haku following him, and then they both began to run, probably to their hideout to grab the stuff they would need.

Naruto sighed, as he heard footsteps, and turned around just in time to see Kakashi, his hand already on his head protector, to take out the sharingan, and looking around.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata yelled, running to where Naruto was standing, but stopping after being held by Kakashi.

Sasuke looked at the bridge, he was expecting the Teme dying, or dead, not him being literally unfazed, surrounded by fainted workers.

"What happened here, Naruto?" Kakashi queried.

"I actually know it might sound strange, but Zabuza and the hunter-nin were together, and attacked the workers...then, as Hinata went and called you for reinforcement, I talked with them for a while, and convinced them to leave."

The puzzled expression on Sasuke's face was defeated by the jaw wide face of Hinata-chan and by the look of utter shock and surprise of Kakashi.

"You did what!" as the mist slowly dispersed, however, just as Kakashi managed to scream out that question, a bunch of thugs slowly came into view, at the head of them a small fat man, with shades, and grey hair, Gatou.

"Seems like we've got company, questions will be done later, Naruto: hand me the letter so I'll…" as Kakashi was moving closer to the boy, his right hand ready to take the scroll to deliver it, Naruto smiled and shook his head.

"Can't do Kakashi-sensei, the scroll is actually a Fuinjutsu, which only works on the blood of those who have been named: I'm the messenger, it needs my blood. It will take a moment, trust me!" as he dashed towards Gatou and his men, Kakashi sweat-dropped: maybe he *could* ask Ibiki to give him a hand in torturing the brat? He was still one of his students though...maybe he'd offer him some ramen, *corrected* with sake. That worked usually.

Hinata clutched her hands together tightly, seeing her crush running like it didn't matter that he was probably going to confront over a hundred thugs plus the wealthiest man and criminal of the area, if only she had his courage, his resolve, if only…she had to better herself, no matter what.

Sasuke scoffed and said nothing, the Teme would need being saved, he couldn't pass up on the feast at the end of the week, which he would be sure to participate in, no matter what.

Kakashi decided to use his sharingan, just to be able to read the lips of the Genin and of Gatou, he didn't want to miss this.

Gatou saw the boy walking forward, with what seemed like a katana on his back, a large dark green and dark brown coat without sleeves, but a black t-shirt with sleeves, his Konoha's headband on the forehead and what seemed like a Kunai pouch at his side.

"You're the Giovanni?" He queried. The thugs he had sent had all come back with broken bones or bruises, stating how *the Giovanni* wanted to talk with him, and deliver him a message. He wouldn't have come in person, really, but his right hand man had suddenly received a message from the shinigami, and thus he was the only one who had enough brains in his organization to carry a delicate meeting with someone belonging to one of the most respected organizations of the land of Fire.

As he studied the boy, who swiftly bit his thumb and traced it upon a scroll, which did tense the thugs, who however remained still, especially because he *snapped* at them to keep their wits, the boy raised a letter in his right hand, and slowly, he moved forward, to deliver it by hand. He kept an eerily silent behavior, strangely letting his eyes do the talking, eyes filled with scorn.

Gatou took it without much of a problem, and opening it, he stared for a brief moment at the words written on it.

_You dry the land that should be plowed,_

_You kill the cattle that should be milked,_

_You bargain lives for money, _

_You take freedom for granted,_

_You take honor for a fickle thing._

_This is your only warning,_

_Repent, or Die._

Gatou re-read the slip of paper. He stared at the boy, who didn't seem to care in the slightest, and then, he tore the message apart with anger.

"I'll have your head sent back to your Godfather in a package! Kill the brat!" as the boy didn't move, the two guards nearest to him charged forward, only for the boy to bring his right hand behind his back, to his *weapon*.

*Flashback*

"Kaa-san! These Ninjatos hurt!" Naruto had been trying his best, during the weeks he had of free time, between one mission and the other to weed the fields and catch the demonic cat of doom, to train with the Ninjatos. The result had been him having his hands bandaged repeatedly, as Elisabetta herself had taken on going around with a nurse's headband with a big red cross on it, to bandage her *Nii-san*.

Right then, they had been sitting on one of the Giovanni's outer rings of the training camp, his mother on a pillar straight in front of him, polishing a small Tanto, whistling.

"You have to learn how to use them correctly. It's the first step towards being a Kenjutsu master: to know thy weapons." As she replied with a philosophical look, she grinned, placing her Tanto back into, well, wherever she held all of her weapons.

Naruto had grabbed a hold of the twin swords handles, only to swing down a blow and get his hands, once more, in a skewered mess.

Gritting his teeth, he tried again, earning himself an even worst result.

"Naruto, while the drop of water may dig the hardest of stones, some walls are better not smashed through, but walked around." His mother pointed that out again.

"Easy for you to speak, you don't have two blades which enjoy sucking on your blood." The boy had replied, letting go of the swords to look at his bloodied hands.

That's when he recalled he was on top of the pillar, and had realized the swords…were hanging downwards, but weren't falling to the ground.

"Kaa-san?" Naruto queried, looking at the strange sight.

"Oh…that's interesting." Elena Corleone was actually curious now. She had thought that the twin swords of the Uzumaki were precisely that, twin swords.

They looked like swords and they had the handle, and everything. Yet, now, against the sun there was a slight flicker coming from the tip of handle, which was going all the way above till the side of the sheathe where that sword was meant to be. Same thing for the other.

"Oh…Naruto, it seems I've given you the wrong training all along…Those aren't swords…it's a double headed flying Naginata."

With that, she smiled even more, which send shivers of fear on the boy's back…he had a feeling his training regimen had just been doubled.

*end of flashback*

"Be gentle, I know only one form," was all that Naruto whispered, as his right hand went to his back, as he dashed backward, grabbing a hold of the center of his twin swords' sheathe.

Moving his hands along the wooden surface, he clicked buttons he had learned to press to achieve his desired style, and then, the swords came free from the sides, as Naruto brought the wooden sheathe, which in truth was the shaft of the weapon, and then he swiftly spun around. The blades soared as the wind entered the small fissures on the handles, unrestricted by hands that they had to carve through, and as they turned they slashed, creating a Whirlpool of blades.

"Uzumaki First Stance: WHIRLING BLADES!" the form was basic and really dull once it was actually taken apart: basically keep the shaft rotating without decapitating yourself by wrongly placing your hand. Easier said than done though, still, Naruto had done it, courtesy of his Kage Bunshin No Jutsu, of which he had become proficient after a couple of swift meeting with a Falcone. The reason you don't mess with a Falcone is because they're as smart as the Nara…but crueler, a lot crueler, with their enemies.

Sasuke stared as the thugs, the first one to go near, had fallen down, blood gushing from their wounds, looking at how it didn't seem to have fazed Naruto, who was now moving backwards, to reach them.

Kakashi, with his Sharingan, was actually following the movements of the boy which were, quite actually, crude, it was only when he looked at the stares of both the Uchiha and the Hyuga, that he smirked, yeah, that damn Giovanni's subtle use of Genjutsu was annoying. He'd make it a point to have them learn to "Kia" every second they saw Naruto do something utterly impossible.

In the time Naruto disengaged the thugs, many had already started running, especially when, out of nowhere, a bolt had hit Gatou's head with a direct shot, killing him on the spot. Once their paycheck was gone, the rest of thugs left.

"I'm sure you've got questions." Naruto pointed out, but, much to his surprise, all he cold was a scared stare from Hinata and a slight growl from Sasuke.

Kakashi simply said, with his eye smiling and all:

"Naruto-kun, you're no longer accepting your godfather's mission while on my team. Got it?"

Naruto, sighing and rolling his eyes over, nodded. Man they should man-up, they were ninja, meant to kill.

Kakashi on the other hand was certain about this: the boy had killed before. The problem was who, when, where, and most importantly…who knew and hid the deal?

**Author's notes:**

**Masquerade…let us hide reality masqueradeee.**

**(that's what the phantom of the opera used to sing, anyway)**

**To Ravenous oranges:**

**Yeah, I kind of have a Certificate of Proficiency in the English language with B mark, and yet I make newbie mistakes (I fault the Microsoft word auto-correct function!)**

**To Ishpeck:**

**Only the names are actually taken, and while I *was* thinking some sort of Anarchists Vs Camarilla but made from Land of Iron old Vs New ones, I'm still thinking about it.**

**To Ryujin96:**

**Thanks! And yeah, "underestimating an opponent" is the cannon way of having someone powerful get his ass kicked around.**

**Dictionary:**

**The first lines are a song by Fabrizio de André.**

**The literal meaning is:**

"**In the districts where the sun of the good god doesn't send his rays, **

**He's got already too many appointments *Warming* other places,**

**A young girl sings the song of the whore,**

**What you do not know, you will learn, only here between my arms"**

**The song is old, but the *code* used by the two is simple:**

"**Salvare"= to save, by using this word, the spy reveals himself as a Salvatore.**

"**Che è" =Extra word to signify if there's a problem, Che C'è (what is it?).**

"**Tu/non-solo" = extra words to warn Naruto that he wasn't alone, as Kakashi was spying on him.**

"**U capputtu" = slang to mean *the coat*, considering school terms that start in winter period, it was cold when the two went to buy stuff for school. **

"**Fratello"= brother.**


	7. Home, Sweet Home

Chapter seven

"I can't believe you killed Gatou!" was all that Tazuna said, as he stared in awe at the ninjas, who had come back to report the situation at the bridge, he was, quite actually, smiling and in the process of dancing by himself, until his daughter, Tsunami, came in, and was *forced* to dance with her father.

"They killed Gatou! They made his thugs escape! The bridge is safe!" The super bridge builder than dashed off, yelling the good news to the rest of the village.

Inari actually came down, looking straight at Naruto's face, who gave him a small grin back.

"Living on, kid, means to grow strong to protect those stay behind." Naruto whispered that to the boy, chuckling to himself as he waved his goodbye, turning around, his hands in the pocket of the coat, as he tried to make a sort of movie exit from the house, only to be stopped by a really scornful looking Uchiha with a giant tick mark on his forehead.

"Dobe, Kakashi-sensei still isn't back."

"Teme, I was trying to make a movie-exit! For Kami's sake read the atmosphere!" as Naruto replied with a shocked face, and he and Sasuke entered a fierce competition on the most insulting insult, Hinata giggled, staring at her two team-mates actions.

After three hours, Kakashi finally returned to his Genin team, announcing quite happily, with a smiling eye:

"Sorry, I got lost helping life go across the street…no, wait, it was something else…anyway, my excuse is valid."

Hinata simply stared as both Sasuke and Naruto pointed their fingers at Kakashi, slightly growling but saying nothing.

Then, after the final salutations, which had Naruto try his *grand* exit again, this time with a toothpick in his mouth, and a grin that still sent Hinata the shivers and made her face red, they finally left to return to Konoha.

"You know, Naruto, you are either completely insane or unpredictable to boot." Kakashi muttered, as he took a relaxed stroll next to the blond-haired ninja.

"Thanks, I guess."

"Anyway, the mission is over, I must say I was pleasantly surprised of how, in the end, it turned out to basically account to Naruto doing the entire job." As Kakashi commented on that, Sasuke actually was about to snap something back, but he stopped himself.

Kakashi was right.

In the beginning, Sasuke had proved his strength, but he hadn't been alone against the two sound nins, he had proven his strength again, but with the help of Naruto, against Zabuza, to free their Jounin-sensei, but in the end? Naruto had talked eye to eye with two enemy nins, Zabuza and his hunter-nin, and had emerged unscathed, plus he had spoken to Gatou himself, and slaughtered his way out of the group of thugs. Sure, he would have been able to do the same, with ease, but the fact was that it hadn't been him to do that, it had been Naruto, the average one in class, the one who had a family to support him, a family that had stolen what had been rightfully of the Uchiha clan, and, furthermore, had managed to creep his way into his heart with food, food of all the things!

Hinata didn't know wherever their sensei was being sarcastic, caustic, sincerely amused, or wherever he had been pleased or not by it. She knew, however, that he was right, at least for her, she had done little to nothing even getting scolded even by Naruto himself, and worst, the only action that would even slightly qualify as ninja-like was to deflect a senbon needle, while Naruto had used careful tactics and Kage Bunshins, she had done nothing more than go call for her sensei, and she couldn't even walk on water. She'd never be able to be side to side with Naruto if she didn't become stronger.

"Remember guys, when we get back, we dine in hell," Naruto replied with a sigh, "A D-mission turned A-mission? I'm probably going to get so much of a punishment that I'll be off-duty for a while, especially because I actually broke the cover of a Salvatore."

Sasuke found it interesting, though.

"A what?" He wasn't familiar with the surname.

"Kakashi-sensei didn't explain? He was fussing over the bolt in Gatou's head for a while though." As Naruto shrugged, Kakashi's eyes narrowed, how did he know? He had wasted time precisely because he wanted to bring the bolt back as a proof of external interference, and to have more information, but he hadn't found it on the body.

"No, Dobe, he didn't, enlighten us." Sasuke growled slightly, he was the one permitted to act all high and mighty, not mister average.

"Salvatore, it's the surname of the family whose bloodline is called Nosferatu, they make it their objective to never leave much of a trace, that's why they use wooden bolts that have moths larvae inside, which means that, by the way, the bolt was no longer there because it had already been eaten. So anyway, one of them was in the area, and I ended up calling him by mistake…the godfather is so going to flail me alive."

"How can you call one by mistake, Dobe?" Sasuke was puzzled, assassin on demands? Where were they when his family was getting killed?

"Sing-a-song, Teme, heck, if he hadn't warned me of Kakashi-sensei spying on me, I wouldn't have known." As Naruto grinned at that, looking over to his teacher, who acted unfazed, he kept on talking, "anyway, there's not much trouble in telling you that you need to sing to get one of them, point is knowing what song to sing, if I wanted you dead, I'd give you a fake call-song, and anyone in ear-range would know that you're an enemy of the family." The fact he winked at Sasuke made the raven haired Uchiha slightly shiver, for some unknown reason.

"T-That's a…b-bit ex-extreme Naruto-kun." Hinata fumbled, now she had to make extra sure not to sing random songs, or she might end up, with her luck, with a wooden bolt in her neck.

"If you're singing a Salvatore fake-call song, then you *did* something extreme, those are songs nobody sane of his mind would ever, ever, sing. Or be caught in public singing, furthermore, they're usually in the land of Iron native language, so there's a really little risk of it happening by accident." As he pointed that out, Hinata sighed in relief, well, she could keep up singing her own songs then. The ones she usually hummed in a sound-proof room to avoid anyone from her family to come to the understanding that she liked to Karaoke, albeit alone.

"So, why are you telling all this? And why would a simple *picciotto* know about it?" As Kakashi queried that, Naruto shrugged.

"If I know it then I can say it, I'm just advised not to, but nothing else will happen. I'm not yet a Wiseguy: they are the ones who have the secrecy seal and everything."

"Anyway Dobe, it was this Salvatore guy who saved your ass from Zabuza?" Sasuke smirked, probably had the elder ninja do everything for him.

"No, Teme, he just told me there was the Possibility that I would be able to Deliver something to Gatou till that night, with him being present as a back-up. They never stay still much, always moving, always protecting from the shadows, always Saving, Salvatore means *the one who saves* if we translate the surname literally. That's why I actually wasn't afraid that night of meeting Zabuza or Haku: I had family covering my back." The words actually stung Sasuke, the Dobe had everything he didn't have, and he was proud of it too, what did Naruto had that he didn't? Except a caring family, one that to Sasuke had been taken away from by his very own elder brother, and hearing the Dobe speak made him royally pissed at the moment.

Hinata was instead thinking how nice it would be, to have a family always ready to look-out for your mistakes, and help you grow, instead of outright hitting you to near death state, or bruising you till you couldn't stand and had to crawl back to one's room.

Kakashi was instead thinking about how he really, really needed to have a talk with the Hokage and the Godfather. Both were optimal poker-partners, but he thought the fact that any Genin could call upon a highly skilled assassin with barely a song was more than enough a proof that he needed to do something.

Naruto still seemed to act unfazed by nothing, and Kakashi, clearly not sensing any and all ill-will coming from the boy, shook his head and assumed a more relaxed stance for the rest of the trip back, which was uneventful, barring a late night talk.

They had camped for the night, just one day of voyage before reaching Konoha, and, as Naruto took his turn to guard the other sleeping members, a young white-eyed Hyuga couldn't fathom to sleep. Sasuke had banally chosen to ignore the words of Kakashi, using his own pride as a shield against the truth, Hinata on the other hand hadn't, and was sure that, once the news would spread, her father would double, if not triple, her training schedule, which would leave her probably with bruises and contusions. She was having a nervous time getting some nap-eye, and thus was rolling to the side of her sleeping bag more than once, a fact that Naruto didn't miss, at all.

"Can't sleep?" Naruto whispered to the girl, turning his blue gaze onto her white one.

"N-No." Hinata mumbled, blushing faintly, her Naruto-kun was there, near her, and he was worried about her.

"What's on your mind?" Naruto whispered, trying a small grin on his face.

"Y-You are." Hinata bit her tongue hard, blushing furiously. Why did she say that! Why, out of all the possible things she could have said, she had to say what she was actually thinking!

"Oh? What about me?" Naruto chuckled, looking at her with dream-like eyes that made Hinata blush.

"You…You're strong." Hinata pointed that out, like that was the most obvious thing to say.

"You think I'm strong?" Naruto queried back, before grinning and shaking his head, "You'd be wrong thinking that."

"B-But you defeated Zabuza, he's an A-class missing nin!" Hinata exclaimed, trying to keep her voice low.

Naruto shook his head.

"No, I was lucky with Zabuza, I never fought him. I am weak Hinata-chan, terribly weak," Naruto spoke slowly, in a slow soft mutter, "but my strength lies not only in me, but in the bonds I have with my friends, and my family, those bonds make me strong. I acted rashly, and stupidly, charging head on into the battle, and I'm sure that I will be severely punished by the Godfather himself, for the idiocy I have committed: I didn't act like a team-mate, but shoved all responsibility on myself, instead of sharing the burden of the mission. I considered you weak, as I did with Sasuke-kun, but, instead of voicing it out like the Uchiha usually does, I kept it to myself. I am sorry."

Hinata stood silent for a moment, taking in the kind words and the excuses of Naruto, he was being sorry for having considered them weak, when, at least she, was weak herself. Naruto slowly moved his head to the right, putting up a slight grin.

"I'm going to tell you a secret. You're the strong one, Hinata-chan: you just need the right drive, that's all." As Naruto added that sentence carefully, the Hyuga girl blushed.

"Na-Naruto-kun…" Hinata muttered, "W-would you be my drive?" what did she just say? WHAT DID SHE JUST SAY! Now she'd done it, now she really had done it, she was going to faint right there, right in that moment. As on cue, her heart gave way, and just as she blushed, fainting, she thought, for a brief moment, to have heard Naruto's reply, and then his chuckle.

The next morning, Hinata woke up, and stared absent-mindedly at Naruto covering the cinders of the fire camp with dirt, while Kakashi was already ready, reading his book, and Sasuke had just barely, and groggily, gotten up and started exercising. She kept staring in a dream-like state at Naruto's face, for some strange sort of reason that her brain, riddled with doubt over wherever to define the night before like an hallucination, a dream, or something else entirely, didn't compute. The strange silence continued at least until they got to the gates of Konoha, where an incredibly outraged Francesco stood, and, if his gaze could have murdered someone, then, in that precise instant, Naruto would have been dead. Not just any death, no, a horrible excruciating death, the type of which even Kakashi would have done his best to avoid.

"Hey, Ot…" he didn't finish, he simply raised his right hand to wave, and the next moment Francesco was a blur that had grabbed Naruto's arm and had proceeded to throw him on the ground, a cloud of dust gushing out.

"YOU IDIOT!" he ranted, proceeding to then hold him in a chokehold, while Sasuke smirked and Hinata watched worriedly.

"Ehm…excuse me." Kakashi muttered, which made Francesco relent from gripping harder, and turning a perfectly unfazed look to the silver haired Jounin.

_At least I know where he took the unfazed-like look. _"We still need to report to the Hokage…I'd like him alive."

Francesco sighed, and removed his hold, Naruto's face had just barely gotten back a normal hue, that someone else had dashed to grab him by the head and flung him on the dirt once more.

"YOU IDIOT!" This time, it wasn't Francesco, but actually Leonarda Preziosi.

"You damn worthless S! You're getting ball-gagged and that's final!" such words made Hinata blush horribly while Sasuke actually paled, because, as the Jounin stopped and stared at the Uchiha, she actually licked her lips for a moment, and then turned her red eyed gaze back on the boy on the ground.

"As I was saying before…I need him alive till the Hokage." Kakashi sighed, the woman in front of him was one of the first Jounins ever made from the Corleones, and she rivaled Anko in her perversions, in truth, they were best drinking buddies, and poor Kurenai was always forced in the middle between them in drink contests.

"Oh…sorry," Leonarda blushed, as she stepped away from Naruto who slowly got back on his feet.

"I'm glad to see you too…" he muttered, taking a deep breath.

"Hokage tower, five minutes," was all that Kakashi commented on, no longer caring if they heard him or not, before disappearing in a twirl of leaves.

"I'm going on ahead." Sasuke all but growled it, as he left in the direction of the tower; something inside of him was aching, probably, a thought that lingered for but a second, envy at the dobe for having someone worried and fussing over him.

Hinata stood her hand clasped together, not knowing wherever to move forward or not, that is, until Francesco looked at her, and smiling, beckoned her to come closer with a movement of his right hand.

She actually did that, timidly, and then *eeped* in surprise when the man made a refined bowing of the torso, his right hand reaching for his heart.

"I apologize for any shameful behavior my son must have subjected you to." He actually felt sad, and guilty, of something Hinata didn't understand. What did Naruto do to her? Expect stating the hurtful truth that was the actual reality: she was weak.

"H-He d-did no-nothing." She sputtered, easing up after a brief moment, when she realized the man's smile was warm, strangely so.

"My, such gentleness is a rare gift in a Kunoichi. Especially since…" he was a nice person, Hinata decided right there, he had that smile of his, that way of acting, and moving his hands, he kind of looked like the perfect fatherly example, his words, however, were cut off by a katana's blade, that reached inches from Francesco's right cheek.

"Where is he?" The woman behind him literally growled, staring with a killing intent that would have made Zabuza himself cry, at least, that was Hinata's opinion on the matter.

"He's not at my left?" as Francesco queried that puzzled, he, and even Hinata, turned to the left, just to see two mannequins that vaguely resembled both Leonarda and Naruto, standing in a pose, with a sign reading: "Gone to Hokage Tower."

"He's gotten good, hasn't he?" there was actually pride in Francesco's words, a clearly hearable pride, the man even had his chest rise from such a pride as Elena, instead, simply scowled about punishment later, and left her husband there, muttering more curses on taking on an *evil* streak.

"So, you don't have to go to the Hokage's tower too?" Francesco queried with a chuckle to Hinata, who had looked at him like a fish would look through a fishbowl.

"Ah! Y-Yes! Please excuse me!" With that, Hinata dashed off, mentally noting down that she had to find out Naruto-kun's father's name.

She dashed as fast as she could, reaching the tower, and then reaching just outside the Hokage's studio, just in time to see Sasuke and Naruto, both with an annoyed face, looking at each other with slight annoyance, even the two guards outside the Hokage's office had an annoyed look on them.

"Where's Kakashi-sensei?" Hinata queried, puzzled, as she caught her breath slowly.

"That's the point, Sasuke-teme lost sight of him." Naruto muttered.

"I wasn't supposed to look out for him, Dobe: he said five minutes, he'll be here in five minutes." Sasuke snapped back.

"Yeah…Five Ryos he won't come in five minutes." Naruto replied.

"Challenge accepted." Sasuke replied.

As time slowly passed, Naruto's grin grew wider, while Sasuke's scowl intensified, making even Hinata shiver. The two guards sighed, as it seemed that this had been the cause of an intense verbal debate among the two kids until Hinata had arrived. Finally, the clock marked Six minutes having passed, just to be sure.

"Told you so," Naruto muttered.

"Told him what?" Kakashi-sensei queried, opening the door from *inside* the Hokage's office.

"Gah! How long have you been there?" Naruto exclaimed, jumping away from the door surprised.

"I was lost on the way of life," was all that the silver-haired Jounin replied.

"We can't know who has won the bet if you don't tell us!" Naruto whined once more, which earned himself a smirk from Sasuke: the same thought the raven haired Uchiha had, but dared not voice out loud.

As they slowly entered the conjoint office of both the Hokage and the Godfather, when they had to receive reports on the missions, Naruto tensed, staying slightly behind Kakashi.

Kakashi repressed a grin, no matter what, the boy knew when to be afraid, that coupled with the words he had heard him say last night, well, it nearly made him want not to report the *whistle call* of a probable Anbu-class assassin. Nearly, however, wasn't completely.

"Was the mission a success?" Hiruzen queried, looking at Kakashi, and then slightly raising an eye-brow when he stared at how Naruto's face had turned pale, he'd ask the boy later, maybe over some Ramen.

"Well, concerning that…" Kakashi actually explained his version of the facts, the mission in truth being an A-rank, the demon brothers, Zabuza of the hidden mist, a hunter-nin who helped him, Gatou's thugs, and even Gatou's assassinations, by the time he finished, the third Hokage gave a look in Naruto's direction, who gulped.

"So, Naruto, what exactly did you do to convince Zabuza and his associate to *not* attack you, and instead run?" He was actually curious, if he had tapped into his Kyuubi chakra or something like that, Kakashi would have probably warned him by animal summon.

Naruto fidgeted, as he didn't know what to say: there he was, at a cross-way. On one side, he could say a lie, a lie he knew that would be discovered, as he wasn't a good liar. Hiding facts? Good. Lying out straight? Horrible to such a point that if he ever actually managed to convincingly lie, they'd actually believe it without problem, point being he never managed to.

He could, however, say that he offered them something, maybe the Godfather would help him out, but then it might be suspicious, as he didn't know anything except that he had to deliver them a letter too, and that it had to be hidden to the rest of the group. Certainly they'd hate him for that, as anyone would for having been excluded from a part of the truth.

Or he could outright give the fault to the Godfather, a fact which was the utter bane of his existence: the godfather was the reason he had a family, the reason people no longer scorned him or hated him, he was the reason he had ended up adopted by Francesco, the father he would had never had before, how could he even think about betraying them?

"I…well…I thought I could convince them to change sides, if I spoke with them for a while, Gatou was a heartless man, and he would have probably died anyway, not hearing the warning of Don Gianfranco, so…I kind of spoke to them, and they actually accepted?"

"You actually convinced two missing Nins to stop their mission with words? I'm sure, with the shipping magnate Gatou in the mix, he would have offered them a really high paycheck." The Hokage pressed on, while the Godfather kept a neutral face, seemingly uninterested.

"I…I just spoke to them, that's… really all, Hokage-sama." Naruto didn't feel good lying at the Jiji, but he had no choice, that's what the Godfather asked him to do.

"I can vouch for him being highly convincing, Hokage-sama," to his surprise, it was Kakashi who had spoken, "he managed to convince this rag-tags to group together, and they actually *took* the bells from me, at the training grounds."

Hiruzen's eyes shot forward for a moment, before returning to normality, as he repressed a cough, and muttered something about *should have expected that*.

"Anyway, concerning the death of Mister Gatou, care to explain why you called a Salvatore, and then actually used him, forcing him to later on change his cover and rotate with the others? And what was a Salvatore doing there in the first place?" The Hokage queried, but was, before Naruto could try and come up with a good enough excuse, stopped by Don Gianfranco, who actually answered the second question, that had been addressed at him.

"The Salvatore was there on a mission, a really important one that he couldn't complete because of Naruto's interference, even though he called him by mistake, he broke his cover, forcing him to give up on the mission. As such, I'm afraid the Salvatore family asked for remuneration from the boy." The Godfather looked with a cold stare at Naruto, who shivered.

Hinata watched worried from one side to the other, not knowing what to actually say, while Sasuke grinned, the Dobe was going to get it.

"What limb?" Naruto asked in a mutter, barely audible, gulping down and trying not to cold sweat too much, albeit he actually was really scared at the moment.

"Limb? Gianfranco you can't be…" the Sandaime was cut short by a nod from the Godfather.

"They want your right arm, you called, by mistake and that's why they didn't ask your head, a Wiseguy of the Salvatore, his task is an S-secret, and you have infringed on it, thus, you must pay the price." Hinata brought her hands to her mouth, while Sasuke was actually a bit pale, wasn't it too extreme, a limb? Some extra punishment missions would have done just fine, with the right arm…he risked losing his shinobi career, and they'd end up in other teams or having to wait a year for new team-members!

Kakashi narrowed his only visible eye and, staring at the Godfather, muttered.

"This was more a fault on the Salvatore part, than on Naruto's, was he punished in the same way?" Gianfranco looked back at Kakashi, and then commented:

"The Salvatore will do some family missions and then he'll be set back on track: that was the punishment the Salvatore head deemed worthy on him."

"Naruto instead loses a limb? What kind of equally guilty thing is…" but before Kakashi could reply, Gianfranco had already hit the table with his right fist.

"He is a Giovanni, the guy is a Salvatore. The choice does not fall on the Giovanni's family head but on the Salvatore's family, as I had to punish the Salvatore for failing his mission, so the Salvatore can punish Naruto for making them fail their own. They have been lenient, in the punishment, as their motto is…"

It was Naruto, who meekly whispered, interrupting the Godfather.

"_Testa per occhio, famiglia per dente_" As he finished, the Godfather nodded, "if it's the right arm, well, I'll learn how to use the left one, right?" as he said that with a small sad smile, Hinata gasped, not knowing what to say.

"That's still extreme! As their Jounin-sensei the fault is also mine!" Kakashi was actually bewildered, he had simply hoped that he'd get some explanation, but now it turned out that Naruto had simply done what he did best: opening beehives and running straight through them. There was also another thought, that had crossed his mind, a more grim one: that he had done that to guarantee the team's safety by accepting, by himself, the consequences of his actions, maybe he had seen Kakashi get his ass *nearly* kicked, and had thought the copy-cat ninja not to be able to defeat Zabuza and his associate together, maybe he had decided the team would need back-up, and he had done that, maybe, to protect the team.

"No…the fault is of Naruto and of Naruto alone, he must thus face his punishment, and that's final." Don Gianfranco spoke harshly, staring back at Kakashi who was trying to find any possible excuse, but couldn't, as he instead looked at the Hokage.

"I can't intervene on the matter, Kakashi-san: it's a family matter, it pains me, but I can't do a thing." Sarutobi had the most saddened expression on his face that Kakashi had seen but once, before: at the fourth's funeral.

"Oh come on! The Dobe is a ninja! He's a good one at that too!" Sasuke finally snapped, "sure, he's all for friendship and family and team-mates and that's sickeningly sweet and clearly gay, but he's nearly as good as me, and I'm an Uchiha: so why make him worse? Just have him do some missions like the Salvatore guy, heck, have him do the same missions at that Wiseguy! If he does them, then he's free to go, otherwise he's dead and the Salvatores can't complain!"

"Naruto-kun is a strong ninja! You can't remove him from the shinobi ranks for having helped us on a mission! It's STUPID!" Hinata looked at her hands. Then she kind of touched her lips, did she just say that the Godfather's words were stupid? Did she just do that to the second most powerful man in Konoha, who took orders only by the Hokage, did she just…why wasn't she already committing Harakiri in a corner?

"As a team, I say whatever missions the brat does, we'll do them together, it will be good team training." As Kakashi said that, Naruto's eyes widened, he was…he was having some dust in his eyes, that's what it was.

The Godfather coughed once, and as the eyes of the group turned on him, he rolled his eyes over with a deep sigh.

"Damn, you all can't take a joke," the next moment, everyone in the room, except the Godfather, face-planted against the floor.

"What? You really thought I'd take a LIMB from him? What are you thinking I am, a bloodthirsty criminal?" as Gianfranco said that, Naruto actually started crying in relief, and the next moment, in the room, a wave of killing intent rolled by, making everyone very, very uneasy.

The Godfather gulped, and then added.

"Well, it was clearly no-one's fault: the boy couldn't know the call for a Wiseguy class Salvatore, so he just had the rotten luck to have actually started singing a song that worked as that, while the Salvatore was expecting someone that he had to protect for a night, who in truth was somebody else entirely, and thus their information mismatched, and there was a misunderstanding. It was cleared, however, and there were no problems."

Everyone sighed in relief, albeit the killing intent still remained in the room.

"So, Naruto and the others of the team, you will receive the D-class compensation from having delivered the message, while…" Sarutobi took the word, and finished the Godfather's sentence, "you will receive an A-class payment for having solved the mission, and having defeated Zabuza and his minions…albeit in an unorthodox manner…you're dismissed."

As the group left, the Hokage turned quietly to Gianfranco, who turned to face Hiruzen with a grin.

"Told you the brat would have taken the blame, he's an adult now."

"And I told you that his team would have tried to defend him, they're all adults, Gianfranco, you can't have him participate in both, you know."

"Who says that?"

"You know he'd probably try that, and then you'd end up with him dead, probably."

"The boy's not going to fail: he did the right thing right there. He didn't shift the blame on me, for the offer to Zabuza, and he didn't rat out any of his team-mates weaknesses, nor did admit the reason why he went on with calling the Wiseguy never the less."

"He's still a Genin, and while I do not approve or your underhanded ways to test loyalty and responsibility, I can say he's not going to get forward in your ranks, until he at least gets the Chuunin rank in Konoha's shinobis." As Hiruzen pointed that out, taking a puff of smoke, Gianfranco rolled his eyes over.

"The killing intent on us isn't stopping."

"Yeah, I'm starting to think it's sort of going to linger all day long."

"Better solve it, before we actually scare to death other teams who still have to report." As the third Hokage sighed that, he muttered.

"You can come out, or in, or inside, or wherever you are, Elena-san."

As a set of shining blades and kunais actually appeared in a corner of the room, both men flinched, starting to sweat. A mother angry is one thing, a royally pissed mother is another, a Giovanni's mother when angry is a strength to be reckoned with, but Elena Corleone Giovanni, known as the Corleone's walking armory, when in her full Mother Hen form, was worse than anything the shinobi lands had ever seen.

Outside the office doors, the two guards on duty heard a set of girly screams.

"Did you hear that?"

"Must be those females of the chorus, it's too high-pierced to be a man."

*Ichiraku's ramen*

As Team 7, plus their sensei, stood for the first time all together at Ichiraku's ramen, nobody dared to say a word, all too proven by the previous minutes that seemed like hours, in the Hokage's office.

"Naruto," Kakashi spoke softly, turning his only visible eye to the Genin, who looked back at him, "remind me never, ever, to make the Godfather angry."

"I'll do that gladly…I'm sorry for before." Naruto replied in a whisper, barely audible.

"Umpfh! A Dobe will remain a Dobe no matter what," Sasuke growled, did he actually call Naruto a *good ninja* back there? He was in dire need of some more scowling lessons, "still, when's the feast going to be?"

"Tomorrow probably, lunch time, come with an empty stomach: trust me," as Naruto said, a grin appearing on his face, Hinata slightly blushed, more because, while Kakashi was on Naruto's right, she was on Naruto's left, and since Sasuke was on her left, she had full front view of the boy's grin.

Hinata turned to her ramen, which Teuchi had just delivered, and after saying the usual word *Itadakimasu*, began eating the noodles, trying to concentrate on what she had just done before in the Hokage's office, and what she had said in the face of the Godfather.

Yeah, she was sure going to get a beating from her father, in the form of *training*, when she got back to the Hyuga compound.

After the ninth bowl of ramen, on Naruto's side, Kakashi suddenly decided that he had something to do, disappearing into a cloud of smoke, and leaving Naruto, Hinata and Sasuke, with a scowl on their faces, to pay for his part too.

Afterwards, Sasuke muttered something about training, leaving the Hyuga and the Giovanni alone, on the road, but, as the raven haired Uchiha turned the corner, a loud set of "SASUKE-KUN!" echoed that made the young Genin yell, dashing back on his tracks, this time followed by a mob of fan girls, and run in the completely opposite direction, passing by Naruto and Hinata, who stood perfectly still, to allow the raging mob to go forward.

"Well, might as well bring you back home, Hinata-chan," as Naruto said that, he stared, with a small smile towards the Hyuga, adding afterwards, "that is, if you want."

"Sh-Shouldn't we help…?" as Hinata queried that, looking in the direction of Sasuke's mad dash, Naruto chuckled.

"Nah, the Teme is probably enjoying that, though he'll never admit it," as the blond haired boy said that, he nonchalantly placed his arm around Hinata's shoulder, "well, time to bring you home".

Hinata blushed, as she let Naruto gently surround her shoulder with his arm, and as they began walking back towards the Hyuga compound, she was quite actually suspecting it was a dream, a hallucination or simply she had gone mad directly. Just why was the boy she loved acting so directly with her? She hadn't even confessed to him! Or maybe she had? She was steaming and her face was red, on a shade completely unused by her before.

"Na-Naruto-kun!" Hinata blushed, as she stared with her white pearly eyes into his blue ones, "Wh-Why a-are y-you?" _why are you holding me like this? Like a l-lo-lover?_

"You asked me if I would be your drive, Hinata-chan: wasn't that a love confession?" Naruto queried, puzzled, his right eyebrow shooting up in surprise.

Hinata outright fainted. The moment before, her brain clicked on the melt-down button, the next moment her heart gave in with a Naruto-Fatality, and finally her legs collapsed on themselves, the only thing avoiding her from getting a meeting with the floor being Naruto himself, who grabbed with a sigh and a small smile, and carried her all the way till the Hyuga compound.

At least, till the guards outside, handing her over to one of the guards, who had a puzzled look on his face, he simply replied:

"She mustn't feel well I suppose," but before turning to leave, he stopped after just two steps, turning to the remaining guard out of the compound, eying him with a pretty torn expression, "would it be possible to arrange a meeting with Hiashi-sama? My name is Naruto Uzumaki Giovanni, of the Giovanni family, and I need to discuss something with him." The guard stared at the boy for a moment, not knowing wherever he should leave his post or not, seeing as there was no-one else, as the other guard had gone to bring Hinata-sama into her room.

"Could you wait here for a moment? Neji-sama!" The guard exclaimed, raising a hand to attract the attention of another ninja shinobi, one that was probably one year older, since he wasn't in the same class as Naruto, who, nodding, moved closer.

"Giovanni-sama here would like a meeting with Hiashi-sama, I must take my leave momentarily to query the master's disposition, would you kindly watch over the entrance for a moment?" The guard was actually making sarcasm in the use of certain words, a fact that Naruto didn't miss, but which didn't make him care in the slightest.

"Hai," was all that Neji replied, letting the guard go swiftly.

"Why did he call you Neji-sama?" Naruto queried, puzzled as he stared at the boy no older than him of a year, maybe.

"Why do you want a meeting with the head of the Hyuga clan, and what makes you think he'll accept?" Neji retorted with his own questions.

"Two questions for the price of one? You drive a hard bargain, my friend!" Naruto replied with a grin, "I need to speak to him concerning my team-mate, Hinata-san, and he'll accept, either because it would be rude not to, or because he's simply curious why I had the guts to call for a meeting to begin with."

"I am not your friend." Neji replied with a stern look, "but if fate has decided our meeting, then so be it: I'm the son of the previous head of the branch family, thus I'm simply the head of the servitude, and my name is Neji." The reply came bitterly, and just for a brief moment, there was a look of scorn on the boy's face.

"I see," was all that Naruto whispered back, though he wondered why if he hated being the head of the servitude so much he didn't simply leave, he didn't ask, everyone has their own reasons.

"Is Hinata-sama being of any use, in your team, Giovanni-sama?" Neji queried back, probably to interrupt the tense silence.

"My name is Naruto, please, no need to be so formal, and yes, she *is* a good Kunoichi." Naruto replied, noting down the scorn in the boy's words, there certainly was a story behind it.

"I find it hard to believe." At the boy's reply, a slight nervous tick appeared on Naruto's face, who queried, trying his best not to seem angered.

"And why would you find it hard to believe?"

"Because she's weak." The voice didn't come from Neji, however, but from a taller man, with long raven hair and pearly white eyes, who was wearing a traditional outfit, and sandals, and was staring, from top to bottom, Naruto, with a stern and impassable expression.

"Hiashi-sama." Neji bowed, before being dismissed with a hand-wave by the Hyuga's clan head.

"I take it you are my daughter's team-mate: I am a busy man, so make it quick." Naruto nodded, and staring back at Hiashi with a clear steeled gaze, he muttered.

"Hinata-chan is my team-mate, but also my friend. She wouldn't speak about it, but it took me only a glance to see the bruises she has on most of her body," actually, it was when she tried walking on the water, and being drenched and rolling in the sand some skin *was* exposed, obviously Naruto had averted his gaze…after a while.

"And how would you know of that?" Hiashi's tone grew colder by the second.

"Because chakra control on water surfaces tends to make people wet, rolling up sleeves or removing jackets," Naruto replied, holding the gaze on Hiashi, no matter what, he wouldn't be able to use his influence on him, nor kill him on the spot he stood, "anyway, mine is simply concern, as she fears being hit, I suppose you are clearly training her wrong."

"And what would a brat like you know about training in the art of the gentle fist?" Hiashi was starting to become furious.

"Nothing, but I know that if you close your eyes when you're fighting, then you're just a dead-man walking. I am a Giovanni, Hyuga-san, I was trained to be the shield and the sword of the Godfather, and trust me: I can recognize fear of fighting. So tell me, why would your daughter fear being hit? I came to the only logical conclusion: you're training her wrong." Hiashi stared for a moment in pure disbelief at the brat, the eleven or twelve or thirteen year old brat, he didn't care about his age at the moment, and thought about his blood splattering on the ground.

"Why shouldn't I kill you on the spot for having offended me?" Hiashi muttered, staring at him, trying his hardest *not* to hit him in the heart.

"Because I'm a kage Bunshin, Hyuga-san, or you think I'm an idiot to point out your idiocy in person?" at those words, Naruto grinned and dispersed, not before, however, managing to get one last sentence in.

"If anything happens to Hinata, you'll pay for it, _capiscete?"_

Hiashi stared at where the insolent, arrogant and foolish brat that had dared tried to intimidate him had been, he stared at the cloud of smoke for a brief moment, then turned around, furiously, and left for training with someone from the branch family who wouldn't complain being hit for good part of the afternoon. He had not only offended him, the head of the Hyuga family, but with his words he had offended his way of teaching, the entire Hyuga family, and, most of all, he had hit him in his pride as a Hyuga.

He'd make sure the boy would pay his mistakes dearly, oh if he would.

*Giovanni compound*

Naruto sighed, as the memory of the clone rolled in, just why did he do that? Why didn't he use better words, or more gentle ones, he was sure he was going to get it, oh yeah, but still, he couldn't leave the situation as it was, he *had* to do something about it, respect the women, that was one of the tenants.

As Naruto slowly opened the door to his house, he stared with a bit of a warm smile at the hallway, that had stairs on the right, two rooms on the left, and one door at the end that led into his father's studio, on the left, the first door led to the kitchen, while the second was of the general use room. He smiled as, for the first time in weeks, he could finally say:

"Kaa-san! Otou-san! I'm HOME!"

**Author's notes**

…**this chapter turned out mellower than I had expected it to be. **

**Dictionary:**

**Testa per occhio, famiglia per dente: Normally, it would be "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" but the Salvatore are cruel with their enemies, and their motto is thus: "a head for a eye, a family for a tooth". **

**Next chapter: Filler time!**


	8. Slice of life, food, tailor, and tunas

**Sort of Filler episode, enjoy never the less.**

Chapter Eight

"Next time, I'm checking my surroundings first." Naruto muttered, as he stood chained to a chair, with Tantos and Ninjatos pinning his clothing down.

"So, _figliolo,_ explain to your mother *why* you didn't come back from a D-mission turned A-mission?" as Elena Giovanni queried that, she started sharpening a katana.

"The Godfather knew there was a high chance of Zabuza of the Hidden mist to be there, Kaa-san! So I had to deliver a letter to him!" as Naruto whimpered that, he closed his eyes, just in time to feel all the blades retract and disappear, as always, into one of Elena's sleeves.

"I've already given my piece of mind about assigning you A-level missions to both the Hokage and the Godfather, so now it's your turn." Naruto felt Elena grabbing him into a chokehold, and then proceeding to slam him on the ground.

"If you ever, dare, again, to make your mother worried like this, know that not even the Godfather himself will save you from my wrath, _CI SIAMO CAPITI_!"

"Hai...understood." as Naruto groaned, he was helped back up, with a sigh from Elena, who turned to prepare dinner.

"My hair will turn grey by the time I get in my thirties. I know it." As the Giovanni woman sighed, she started to cut the meat.

"By the way, get upstairs, wash yourself from the dirt of the trip, and then get back down here, you have to tell me everything that has happened, got it?" as she *asked* that gently, she still held the knife pointed at Naruto, while making the necessary hand gestures to make him *understand*.

"Yes Kaa-san!" as Naruto dashed upwards, dropping his backpack in his room, he left out a sigh in relief: his room was just as he had left it, without any sign of being tampered with or anything similar.

He recalled with a shiver the time Leonarda had installed hidden cameras into his room, and when he had found them out, he had to do the most embarrassing things to get all the tapes back.

This time, he actually double-checked every inch of the room, before proceeding to unpack, grab a towel, and head for the bathroom, just to be tackled half-way by Elisabetta, who, having grabbed his right leg, exclaimed.

"Onii-san! You're back!"

"Hai!" Naruto replied with a chuckle, "What, thought I'd kick the bucket at my first mission?"

Elisabetta actually frowned, and shook her blond head, "Onii-san is strong! When I grow up I want to be like you!"

"Aww…" Naruto would have melted right there from the cuteness of his little sister, but he resisted said urge, and ruffling her hair, left her to go take a bath.

When he left the bathroom, half an hour later, he had a completely different hue of skin, and this time was greeted in the kitchen by the familiar sight of Francesco, reading a journal, as always, but folding it neatly just to wave at him and make a small grin, before clapping his hands in anticipation for dinner.

"So Naruto: how was the mission?" With that, simple sentence, Naruto nodded and began describing in earnest everything that had happened, from the beginning till the very end.

As he finished speaking about what he said to the Hyuga Head clan, Francesco stood up, in silence, and went to bang his head against the wall.

"What?" Naruto looked perplexed, "Otou-san, I couldn't just let him treat his own daughter like that! Now he's going to change, right?"

"Naruto, the fact that you're thick-headed means that you haven't gotten through…you basically gave your word to that man. You realized that, if he keeps it up, you will have to go through with your words? Tell me, do you *really* think you're going to defeat Hiashi?" Naruto grinned at those words.

"No worry Otou-san, I stick to my word till my very end."

"Yeah, that's what worries me. Well…the night is young: you're coming with me then." With that said, Francesco moved to the window, and Naruto, swiftly, followed his father's footstep out and onto the rooftops, while Elena rolled her eyes over at them not using the door, and Elisabetta waved goodbye to them.

They dashed towards the Giovanni's training grounds, where Francesco stopped just on the most outside ring.

"Tell me, Naruto, what is the first thing you do when you target an enemy?" as Francesco asked that, he threw a Kunai at Naruto, who caught it and smiled: sparring session with his father was his second most favorite pastime.

"Know his moves with the Preziosi." Naruto dashed straight at Francesco, who blocked with his own Kunai, "Target his precious with the Salvatore." Naruto jumped in the air, to spin-kick Francesco, who, however, ducked and the threw his right fist upwards, to have it blocked by Naruto's left arm, sending the boy back on his feet, "Destroy his shield with the Spacca." As Naruto conjured three Kage Bunshin, he sent them to the sides of his father, who chuckled, "Find the dent in his armor, with the Falcone." As the two Kage Bunshin attacked his father's side in simultaneous with the one in the front, Francesco jumped backward just slightly, but enough to have them three hit each other and disperse.

"Kai," Naruto muttered, dispelling the Genjutsu, it was true, they had hit each other, but his father wasn't there from the beginning, "Pierce through his heart, with the Giovanni." Naruto muttered, lowering himself on the ground to avoid a crescent moon leg kick, "leave a message, with the Galante," and then jumping to the front, to avoid a roundhouse kick that made a small cloud of dust rise, Naruto finished, "Show your numbers, with the Briatore", throwing his Kunai at what seemed nothing more than empty air to the side of the field, only to be echoed by a *tlunk* of metal against metal.

"Well done." As the Genjutsu dispersed, once more, Francesco walked forward, both Kunais in hand.

"But you forgot the most important thing," Francesco said, with a wide smile, "You must..."

"Keep it simple." Naruto replied, "That's the way it works the best. Tear through the heart without preparing for hours, seek the weakness and root it out swiftly, do not linger in doubt but strike. Escape if it's needed, return when ready. Complicated plans don't work or have too many risks. Simple things work with little risk."

"Perfect once more, now, tell me: what's the difference between an enemy, and a friend?"

"The enemy is easy to discover, the friend is difficult to discern."

"Better trust family, or a friend?"

"If I have to make a choice, they are both wrong." Naruto replied, earning himself a knuckle on the head, with affection however.

"Good, what makes the family strong?"

"The bonds we have with one another." Naruto replied once more, as he followed his father that had started walking on top of one of the outer pillars.

"What makes it weak?"

"Distrust, feelings of superiority or inferiority, there is no strong member, there is no weak link, we are all strong the same, but in different ways." Naruto grinned, "Some however have little duties than others because they're damn lazy!" as he said that, he jumped backwards, landing on another pillar, just in time to avoid a Kunai barrage directed at him.

"Oh you're going to see who's lazy now!" as Francesco charged forward with a grin, Naruto jumped backwards, just in time for the man's fist to become open palmed, land on the pillar's surface, and use the momentum to spin a kick, that sent Naruto backward against a middle circle pillar, that started to crumble, and brought Naruto to swiftly jump on another one by the side.

"Expect the unexpected!" Francesco yelled, as Naruto suddenly felt his hair being pulled upwards, and he being thrown towards the inner circle.

"Fear not the darkness, but what lies within." Naruto managed to land just inches before actually entering the inner circle, using chakra to keep himself afloat the otherwise scorching hot mud.

"Are you trying to teach me a lesson? Kai!" By the time Naruto dispelled the illusion, it was too late: his father's palm was already at his face.

"Gangrel's Dark Style: Sinner of the Night!" with that, Naruto was pushed straight against the rocky central pillar of the inner grounds, in the straight center, as spears of rock began slowly floating in front of Francesco.

"Well, you know the drill, Naruto." With that, Naruto barely managed to remove himself from the encasing he had ended up in, and muttering curses, he dashed towards the middle ring, the rock spears dashing like they were trying their hardest to impale him.

"TAJU KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!" as over a hundred clones appeared, the majority of them got destroyed by the traps, that unleashed volleys of Kunais, falling debris, or worst, explosive tags, as they however acted as principal pin-cushions, Naruto himself managed, albeit with difficulty, to squish through two falling pillars, and get back into the *safe* zone.

"Are you trying to kill me Otou-san?" Naruto yelled.

"I'm still waiting for you to take out the big guns Naruto! You haven't seen me serious yet!" Francesco replied.

"But I know only one stance!"

"Then you'd better learn the second quickly, because the night is young!" With a chuckle, Francesco dashed forward, as, in the sideline two people stared at the destruction that was going on in the Giovanni's training ground.

"Father, is he the Wiseguy Francesco?" a young girl, with pale lavender hair, and golden eyes queried her father, who had raven black hair, and dark blue eyes.

"Yes, the *Lance of Longinus*, the piercer of hearts for the Godfather, he's your uncle, on your mother's side."

"I see, what about the boy?"

"Oh, it's his son, Naruto Giovanni, he's just a _picciotto_ recently made, too, but he shows promise of greatness that much my eyes can tell."

"So, he's my cousin!" the girl chirped, giggling to herself for some unknown reason.

"Yes, so, let's go down there and say hello, got it Eleonora?"

"Hai, Father!" Eleonora, the lavender-hair girl, replied, moving just two steps behind her father, who, dressed in large trench coat, with a violin case on his back and a wide trimmed hat, stood chuckling in his tailor made suit, before yelling out loud.

"_Chi non muore si rivede!_" the next moment, the man grabbed his daughter by the side, and jumped sideways, to avoid a set of rock lances, that landed precisely where moments before the two had stood.

"As always, he's a bit moody."

Naruto didn't know who had spoken those words, but he knew for a fact that his father was now outright pissed.

"Naruto, training time is over." With that, Francesco had actually dashed at a speed barely perceptible, to reach the man quickly, with Naruto on his tail.

"Aurelio." Francesco muttered, when he stopped in front of the man, and squared him from head to toe.

"Francesco." Aurelio muttered back, making a grin and slightly moving his head to the side, to reveal the neck.

"I come in peace." He added, as a joke.

"You should have come in pieces." Francesco replied with a slight growl.

"Oh come on, you know she's going to forgive me once more."

"It's the fifth time: you'd better have a good reason this time around."

"Otou-san! Who's the man? And the Girl?" as Naruto reached them, he slowly came to a halt next to his father, his eyes narrowing as he stared at the two.

"He's no-one in particular, Naruto." Francesco replied, dismissing the issue, "Be nice, and go back home first, tell your mother I'll be late."

Naruto would have wanted to refuse, but then he nodded, "Yes father," before dashing away.

"Good kid, rare to have one so obedient." Aurelio muttered.

"Yours is in the business?" as Francesco queried that, looking at the young girl, Aurelio nodded.

"Yup, Dead-man walking, like I am."

"That reminds me the reason I hate you so much. Why her? Your eldest one was the best pick."

Aurelio shrugged, "Business is Business, there's always a need for Dead-men, and she's going to grow a Femme Fatale, I tell you".

"This is another reason I'd more than gladly carve a hole in your skull: You're the only father I know who wouldn't care less to send his own blood to a life of sin."

"For the family, Francesco," Aurelio muttered.

"Yeah, but let me scowl when it's closer than I'd like it to. So, what did you want?" as Francesco queried that, he stared at the girl and sighed, a pity.

"The key," Aurelio replied, raising his right hand in an open palm.

"You know the rules, Aurelio…I need the Godfather's permission," as Francesco replied that, Aurelio sighed heavily.

"He's going to kill me and then let me speak."

"You're at fault: we all told you that a dead-man walking shouldn't have the Godfather as the Best-man, but you claimed it wouldn't matter. You know he's royally pissed to having to attend your funerals?"

"What can I say? He's the one who hands me the work to be done!" with that, Aurelio shook his head, and started walking behind Francesco, heading towards the Corleone's compound.

"So, the kid has done any mission recently?"

"Yeah, a *delivery* one," Francesco replied, shrugging.

"Used to blood already?"

"Yeah, he…" Francesco threw a kunai to the side of the streets, only to hear it clank against another one.

"Ops, sorry I'm here, seems I got lost in the road of life." Kakashi-sensei spoke, as he emerged from the shadows, his right hand behind his neck, as he slowly brought the Kunai he had used for defense back in his flak vest.

"Kakashi Hatake, if I am not wrong. Aurelio, can you wait a moment? He's my son's squad leader."

"Not a problem Francesco," with that, Aurelio moved to the side of the road, his daughter following him silently.

"So," as Francesco spoke, he moved closer to the silver haired Jounin, "what brings you here, tonight?"

"I actually have the same question as your friend: when did Naruto get *used* to blood?"

"Oh, that's simple, you could have asked directly, you know." As Francesco shrugged, Kakashi sweat-dropped, maybe he *had* seen too many thrilled and noir film lately.

"The Briatore work as butchers, the civilian side of it, and since pocket money is something we scuff upon unless earned: he's been working as a butcher in the Briatore compound in his free time. He's used to blood alright." Kakashi actually sighed, he had, kind of, expected something like strange bloody ritual with kittens or forced intimidation, this was something...well, normal.

"I see…I've got another question though if you're in a hurry…" Francesco shrugged.

"Aurelio can wait: he's been dead for a couple months already."

"Hey!" with that, the man growled in silence.

"…don't want to know that." Kakashi said, raising his arms in a sort of *I surrender to this nonsense* thing, "Anyway, what was your other question?"

"Did you really tell Naruto…about everything? He looked completely unfazed, and didn't utter a single word about it." Kakashi replied, worriedly.

"Obviously I told him everything, but you see…that would have affected him, if he had stayed alone, all this time, with people hating him for something he didn't do. Right now, he's got family and he's no longer hated, why should he boast about his past, or about what he is, when he already knows we do not care about it?"

"But his dream is to become the Hokage, so that…" Kakashi replied, but earned himself a chuckle.

"You think he'll ever become the Hokage? He's in the family, if he were to become the Hokage the Konoha's population would revolt. There is integration among us, Kakashi-san, but we are open-minded, the same cannot always be said with the rest of the shinobi of Konoha, and Naruto knows that, but that won't stop him from trying never the less."

"And when he fails, what are you going to do then?" Kakashi replied, puzzled.

"When he fails, I'll make him the head of the Giovanni family, if Ma' Giovanni won't be around...but knowing her she'd survive the end of the world. I trust my son to reach great heights, Kakashi-san, and I'm proud of him every step he takes, Konoha lost a great Hokage, the moment it insulted him and threw it away. The family earned himself the most prized member: he's kind, caring and gentle, the Spacca love him, the Briatore consider him one of their own, the Preziosi heiress is head over heels…albeit it's more like heel over-head, with him, the Salvatore spoke nicely of the boy, from what a little bird told me, and no matter what, there's nobody who hates him in the families. Can the same be said of Konoha?"

Kakashi sighed, the man was right.

"So it's our loss…I kind of wonder why you decided to take him in, out of everyone." Francesco chuckled.

"Actually, he should have gone with the Briatore family, but Ma' Giovanni insisted that he was precisely what I needed to put a head over my shoulders. Turns out she was right, as always."

"It's getting late…I know I'm dead, but I'd like not to be completely dead by the time we reach the Godfather!" with that, Aurelio made his presence *known* once more.

"I heard you Aure!"

"Frankie?"

"Aure."

"Frankie."

"Aure."

"Frankie."

"I'll be going!" with that Kakashi dashed off, leaving the two men to walk side by side, while saying their respective *nicknames*.

*Next morning*

Naruto yawned, as he stretched, feeling something…soft, next to him in bed, he opened an eye, as he heard a soft feminine moan coming to his ear. He opened the other and jumped out of the bed, pointing at the naked form of Leonarda.

"Y-You!"

"Aw, I got found out." With that, she made a small tongue gesture, and dispersed in a cloud of smoke.

"Wh…what the hell," Naruto muttered looking at his window, that had been unlocked in the night, probably by Leonarda herself…but he wasn't seeing her dashing off half naked through the roofs, so that could only mean…he felt someone place both her hands on his eyes, as he felt something soft on his back.

He flushed red, as a voice whispered behind him, while sensually biting on his right ear.

"Guess who I am?"

"A WHORE!" the reply came from the door opening in an instant, with Elena dashing in throwing a set of Kunais.

"Mother-in-law!" Leonarda dodged to the side, as Naruto simply jumped out of harm's way to the corner of the room.

"You filthy damn corruptor of sons, today this ends!" as Elena grabbed her katana, Leonarda, now fully dressed, jumped out of the window, not before sending a flying kiss to Naruto, that was however caught by a kunai and sent to bleed in a corner of the room.

"Naruto!" Elena snapped, bringing Naruto to attention.

"Yes, Sir?"

"Dress up! Today there's the feast for your first mission at the Corleone's mansion, we have lunch there. You sent the invitations?" as she asked that, she raised one of her Ninjato in a menacing pose.

"Yes Sir!"

"Good! Go and warn them of the time: Two O'clock, and of the place. _Scattare!_"

"YES SIR!" with that, Naruto dashed off, creating three Kage Bunshin to go and warn each of the guests.

He, on the other hand, would have headed over to Ichiraku's ramen for breakfast, a light one, though, if something smelling good hadn't actually caught his nostrils.

A sign, slightly swinging thanks to the wind, read:

"_Baker's bakery,_

_Spacca's secret treats"_

Going against his better judgment, Naruto sighed and entered.

"Ohi! Orange flashing light coming through!" The exclamation, coming as a sarcastically light salute, was from one of the baker's helpers.

"It's a pleasure to see you again, Costanzo," as Naruto said that, waving to the baker's aid, the boy, with blond long hair that reached his shoulders, and sparkling green eyes, grinned showing off his *Adonis* like complexion.

"So, feast at lunch, right? Your team is ready to get a treat they won't forget?" as Costanzo asked that, Naruto chuckled.

"Yeah, I'm sure they have no idea what *really* is waiting them."

"Well, I suppose you'll have your usual then." As Costanzo pointed that out, he grabbed five white bread buns and two pieces of _focaccia, _"and off you go, you animal." With that said, Naruto grinned.

"I say you simply don't understand the intrinsic gustative design that is bread and _focaccia_," as Naruto replied that, he grabbed the carton bag and readied himself to pay, with his wallet, but received a stern hand sign of *no* with Costanzo raising his palm open wide.

"Anyone who manages to eat that thing, is worthy of the respect of every baker in the world."

"Your father isn't going to be happy if you give off food without having the customer pay though." Naruto replied, shrugging.

"Father would probably have you eat through the entire store free of charge, if it would just prove the point that your stomach has actually an end, Naruto." With a set of laughter, both boys waved each other goodbye.

As Naruto took respective bites out of one of the bread buns, and the _focaccia_, he sighed, throwing two forward at the hulking mountains of muscles that were coming his way.

"Ahah! Without even asking!" Gianni exclaimed, grabbing one, while Giacomo, on the other hand, gave the thumb up to Naruto, while grabbing his own bread bun with his teeth.

"Well done _picciotto!_ You showed some balls with the limb stuff."

"Yeah, nice work! Are you heading somewhere?" Gianni queried.

"Nah, I learned this nice Jutsu: Kage Bunshin, it consumes a lot of chakra, but it's really useful, as it creates clones with their own memory, so each of my clones go and does something, and then later on when it disperses I get their memory back: so right now I'm strolling, killing time until I get all the replies," as Naruto shrugged.

"Oh…good!" with that, Naruto gulped, as both hulking mountains grabbed him, one by each side, and, laughing like madmen, not that they were sane on their bright days, they carried him for half the compound.

"Now Guys, you know I don't swing that…why are we in front of a tailor?"

"_Galante's silk,_

_Leather and coats"_

"Oh NO, NO NO AND NO!" as Naruto tried to run, he simply got held harder, as the two men brought him in.

"If it isn't Naru-chan!" Naruto froze and gulped down.

"Maybe we overdid it Gianni."

"Yeah, I didn't know Grandma Galante was in at this hour." Gianni replied.

"We're sorry pal. Really." Giacomo muttered his condolences, Naruto turned around, sighing, as his cheek was pinched between the index and the thumb of a really thin elderly woman, with a pair of small round glasses, and white as snow hair. She smiled softly at the boy, before grabbing her pincushion and her pins.

"So, you're ready for your _picciotto's_ uniform? Tell me Naru-chan, sleeveless coat or trench coat?" as she started pinning pieces of clothes on him, Naruto stared with a murderous glare at the two Spacca brothers, who had, most generously, decided to leave him alone to face his destiny.

Grandma Galante, whose name was Graziella, was the matriarch of the Galante family. Useless to say she had really bad eyesight, but kept being the tailor of the family, and, worst of all, nobody was sane in his mind to usurp her position as tailor, because, while not being able to see a thing, she was the most deadly force of the Galante family, so much that the battles to get to Mass on Sunday, at the church were an actual fight between Ma' Giovanni and Grandma Galante, and everyone else, even the Godfather, usually waited for them to sit first.

Between a rock and a hard place was always better than between the two grannies of the families. Grandma Galante…well, she was the worst out of the two, in a clearly positive sense.

"Trench coat."

"But Naru-chan, a trench coat and a katana is cliché, it doesn't suit you. Let's go with a sleeveless coat."

"It's not a katana, it's a twin flying Naginata, what about a Black one?" Naruto hoped.

"No, what about fiery red?"

"Grandma…I'm a ninja. Fiery red is not a ninja hiding color."

"Oh…fine." Graziella rolled her eyes over, "Dark orange."

"That's even worst."

"Who's the tailor between us?"  
"You are, Grandma."

"Good! So it's bright purple."

"NO! Please, Grandma, no!" as Naruto exclaimed that, Graziella grinned to herself, chuckling.

"And dark blue it is."

"Fine," Naruto sighed in relief, there were times when you didn't know if she was being serious, or simply under the effect of old age dementia.

"Then, let's see, how about a long sleeveless jacket, but to go with dark blue, I'd say some color is needed. Bright pink?"

"…No."

"Hard to please huh? I like challenges…then how about stint dark green?"

"Fine by me."

"Good. Now the shirt…no, not any shirt would do, if they wound you and your shirt is exposed, you want to show your style even to the shinigami."

"…fine. How about a white one?"

"Why not? It's a shirt, no-one is going to see it."

"But you…You just…never mind!" as Naruto rolled his eyes over, Grandma Galante turned to the trousers.

"Dark leather ones."

"They're creaky."

"Bright leather ones."

"It's the leather that's creaky."

"You ain't going around my turf in baggy pants." Graziella snapped.

"Aw."

"Fine leather trousers, of a nice grey shade, and voilà, you're perfect! Now I just have to build it: I'll send the bill to the Spacca brothers, aren't you happy you got a new suit?" as she queried that, Naruto sighed.

"Yeah Grandma…can you remove the pins now?" with a smirk, Graziella grabbed two pieces of metal, and, while channeling electrical chakra into them, started rubbing them together, and immediately, the pins flew off Naruto.

"There."

"Thank you Grandma!" as Naruto was about to dash away he stopped, turned around, gave a quick peck on Graziella's cheek, and then left definitively.

"What a nice boy. Not like some of my nephews who can only speak about *Beyblades* and stuff like that, mah…nah, I like my nephews too."

As Naruto dashed out, thinking he was over all of his duties, one of the clones dispersed, telling him that Kakashi sensei was going to be there without problems.

The second one dispersed five minutes afterwards, telling him that also Sasuke was going to be present.

That's when he heard a whisper coming from a nearby dark alley.

"That's cliché. You know?" as Naruto grinned moving slowly towards the dark alley, a boy in a wide trench coat, and a wide trimmed hat that covered most of his features, coupled with a white mask that had no sign whatsoever, stood silently waiting Naruto, hand-signing him to get closer.

"Oh my, the scary pedophile of the alleyway, nice to see you too, Arnoldo," Naruto chuckled as the boy's gestures actually mimicked that of an angry man who wished to claim he was *not* a pedophile.

"Chill down, so, what's the matter?"

"Feast."

"Can't come?" Naruto was worried he wouldn't be able to come, it was a pity, but the life of the Salvatore was like that.

"Not that. Byakugan present."

"Ah…right, the Byakugan can see through your mask, right?" Arnoldo nodded.

"Can't you come without, as a fake Giovanni? Nobody from my team has spent a lot of time here, they won't know." Naruto queried.

"Possible. Elder or younger?"

"I'd say to use your own age, you can use the name you fancy the most, and just present yourself first, so I know it's you…and not actually a cousin I didn't know about till then."

"One and only."

"Yep, that entrance rocks!" as Naruto raised his hand for a high five, Arnoldo returned it with a silenced clap.

"One day, you're going to clap it hard, I know it," Naruto pointed that out, before he waved goodbye to one of the Salvatore's kids, and left to run towards the training grounds of the Giovanni, might as well get some more training under the belt.

That's when the final clone dispersed, bringing in the memory of a really scared Hinata and a really angry Hiashi. Naruto knew this wasn't going to end well. Especially because Hiashi had stated he would make his displeasure *vocal* in front of the godfather.

Naruto had no choice, he changed course and directed himself towards the Godfather's mansion.

Normally, he wouldn't have, but the point was that, Hiashi, in his mentality of head clan, had been wrong. If he, Naruto Giovanni, did something while calling upon the Giovanni name, it was Ma' Giovanni who had to answer of his actions, not the Godfather.

So, he had to point out that mistake, before it turned badly. Challenging the Godfather meant that one had to challenge all the family heads before, or it result in a bloody bloodbath...Hinata wouldn't forgive him for having his family kill her father.

"The Godfather is busy right now. Can it wait?" the Godfather's secretary, a man with short dark hair and hazel eyes, who wore glasses on the tip of his nose, stood there, with his delicate features, and kind of thin attitude, but collected and poised. His hair had been held in a sort of wave pattern thanks to gel and brilliantine.

"Mario…it's the Head of the Hyuga clan…he's kind of pissed I gave him my two cents last night…and he wants to challenge the Godfather." Naruto muttered.

"Did you give out the Corleone's name?" Mario replied, narrowing his eyes, but softening the gaze when Naruto shook his head.

"No, I went there as Giovanni, it was personal so I gave my name. I just wanted the bastard to stop hitting his daughter till she got bruises all over."

"The gentleman in you, huh?" Mario chuckled.

"She said I was her drive…" Naruto blushed, "so I couldn't let her go in that way."

"Oh my, direct girl," Mario grinned, "as long as it's not as bad as Leonarda's case."

"She's actually pretty shy, Hinata, my team mate, that is."

"Oh thank Kami, if you were speaking about Leonarda I'd have to ask if she slipped you some mind altering drug." Mario placed a hand in front of his mouth to hide his widening grin.

"So…what do I do?" as Naruto queried that, Mario thought about it for a moment.

"Well, I suppose they'll come over for the feast, right?" Naruto nodded.

"Then I'll have Donato Preziosi and Corrado Galante taking care of it," as Mario said that with a slightly evil grin, Naruto paled.

"Listen…he's the father of Hinata, please, not the *from straight to gay* in five minute thing, please. Hinata wouldn't forgive me."

"Oh…come on, it's the two best talkers of the family, I say in the time they get here, Hiashi would gladly offer Hinata's hand to you."

Naruto fiercely went to blush a nice crimson red color.

"I…I don't know. It's the godfather who arranges marriages."

"Yeah, but only if you're a desperate case, like your father was: as lazy as hell if you didn't tell him what to do…usually you just date a while and then talk to the Godfather about making it *official*" Mario explained slowly, and Naruto nodded.

"Thanks for the help Mario! Need anything?"

"Nah, I'm fine. Go and rest easy, Mario Corleone the one with most hair of the family, will solve it all." With that joke as an ending, pointing out the fact that he was the only one with hair still on his head, while the others had gone bald or near bald, Naruto waved goodbye, and dashed off once more.

He'd train, have a quick shower, then head over to the Corleone's mansion and wait for the feast to begin.

That was the plan.

A pity he was literally taken by the neck by a certain Romano Preziosi, father of a certain Leonarda Preziosi, and dashed straight through the entirety of the Corleone's compound, the Briatore compound, and finally deep into the heart of the Preziosi compound.

The Preziosi compound was an ensemble of houses with gardens, on which every garden had a different group of plants. Ranging from beneficial to harmful, from innocent to hallucinogen, from consumed as is to needing treatment before becoming powerful neurotoxins, the Preziosi were the ones who worked with poisons, and thus they needed to know what their enemy was going to drink or eat, or where he was going to be. A *regular* of the compound was a certain *Snake mistress*, Anko, and for that reason there actually was a dango stall nearby. Just for some extra cash.

Truth was, Anko usually passed by the Spacca bakery to buy _gnocchi, _as it turned out that Dangos were simply that, *gnocchi* on a stick, albeit made with a different type of flour and flavor…when she had learnt that, Anko's one-way trips to the Preziosi compound became just a tiny bit longer.

"So…why am I being brought like a bag of potatoes?" as Naruto queried that, Romano smiled, dropping him off near the pier that gave into the Preziosi's private and small lake…filled with tunas. There were carps, in there, once. Then since carps weren't that good to eat, everyone motioned to have tunas replace the carps.

"You have time to spend, I need fishes, we fish, and everything is fine."

With that, Romano simply handed over a fishing rod to Naruto, and, taking his own, they both began to fish.

"It's nice...but the fish are smart," Naruto whispered after a while, as he could feel the fish toying with him, slowly taking bites without actually ending on the hook.

"Yeah: it turns out there's a big old and creaky carp in there still, which refused capture. We think it's training the other tunas to be smart." Romano pointed that out with a smile, and Naruto stared back surprised, before shrugging.

"So, why bring me here?"

"You know, you're a _picciotto _now…you've started missions, you could die in any of them, you know that?"

"It's the duty I chose. I wasn't forced into it. I could have gone to work in Ma's chemist shop, I think the Spacca wouldn't have minded me working as a baker, father too said he wouldn't have minded me opening a ramen stall, as long as I didn't eat all the ramen I was supposed to cook and serve," as Naruto pointed that out, both grinned, "I never had a choice before, it was always *monster* here, and *demon* there, I was hit, thrown out of shops or worst, and so the only place where they couldn't outright refuse me was the ninja academy. That's why my dream had been of becoming the best ninja, to have the other recognize me as the one I really was…then Francesco came along, and I was offered choice, and a family…though you have to explain to me why Leonarda is so clingy to me."

"That, I do not know myself." Romano replied, nodding, "but then again, your dream is to become the next Hokage, to protect everyone. Why is that? Shouldn't you just crush those who have offended you?"

Naruto shrug his head.

"No, you see, if I do that, I'd be no different from what they called me, *monster*, by proving them wrong, they can feel shame, and teach their own children not to fall for the easy mistakes, of taking one for granted. Oh right, how's Zabuza doing by the way?"

"Haku-chan, the hunter-nin" as Romano began, Naruto's eyes bulged.

"It was a woman?"

"Yes, it was."

"Okay, continue."

"Haku-chan is in the Preziosi compound, she's skilled with the medical herbs, so she's staying there for the moment, until we formalize everything, while Zabuza-san should be within the Spacca's family compound. They told me he's actually a nice pitcher."

"With the sword he swings…" Naruto replied with a chuckle.

"Yeah." And with that, they both fished until they caught nothing.

"There are as many tunas as there are sand grains on a beach, and we couldn't catch one!" Naruto muttered to himself, as he ran his way to get ready.

When the time for the feast actually arrived, Hiashi was slightly blushing, while the two most beautiful looking men ever seen before were surrounding him: one had pearly white skin and dark raven hair, with sparkling violet eyes, while the other had golden hair and clear grey eyes, his skin slightly tanned and Hinata was watching the scene worse than puzzled: horrified.

"Then there's this cream that…"

"but with your skin…"  
"I'd rather…"

"Hinata-chan!" Naruto waved at Hinata, who dashed towards him and grabbed him tightly in a hug.

"Hinata-chan?"

_My heart belongs to Naruto, my heart belongs to Naruto, my heart belongs to Naruto. _As the Hyuga girl kept thinking that, Hiashi finally snapped out of his entrancement, just to say to the boy.

"This time, only, I'll close an eye…and I might tone down her training…a bit. That's all…"

"Please stay for lunch…"

"…it won't be a problem…"

"I have to go!" Hiashi yelled, dashing off.

Both men chuckled to each other, before giving a double high five to Naruto and heading inside.

"Everything's fine?"

"Naruto-kun! I…Yes." Hinata blushed, separating herself from the boy she loved and adored. She had come dressed in her usual attire, and even Naruto hadn't *suited* up.

"Yo!" Kakashi said, appearing behind them with a smiling eye.

"You have to teach me the trick for having your eye smile, sensei." Naruto replied, as Sasuke arrived minutes later, grinning quite happily.

"Hya Teme!"

"Hey Dobe, I must thank the Spacca guards, they stopped the fan girls from following me here…you know, I'm starting to like your family." As Sasuke said that, Hinata, Kakashi and Naruto froze on the spot, surprised.

"What?"

"N-Nothing Sasuke-teme."

"Yeah, Naruto-dobe, so, where's the free food?"

"Right this way!"

Five hours later, two knocked out cold Genins, one knocked out cold Jounin two hundred slightly filled bellies later, Naruto chuckled as he saluted Costanzo.

"They didn't know what to expect, right?"

"Yeah…they won't wake up even for the toast, I suppose."  
"Oh well…" with that Costanzo grinned, as he turned his gaze, as did the rest of the people on the various tables, towards the main one, where the Godfather stood, standing up and raising his flute filled with champagne, while the kids had apple juice and some had red wine.

"Well then, this feast is for all those who did their first missions as _Picciotto, _please, stand up." As the godfather said that, a dozen of boys stood up from their seat, and the Godfather smiled bitterly, before continuing.

"It's saddening, but out of you twelve, probably half of you will die by the end of the decade, for that, I apologize. This is the sad rule of the family: sacrifices are to be made so that the family may grow stronger. Know this, however, and keep it in your heart, always. The walls may fall, and the houses may crumble, people may die and the sky may be set ablaze by the final hour, but no matter what, family is what lies deep in one's heart." With that, the godfather raised his flute, as did everyone else.

"_Amen"_ came as the wholesome reply.

**Author's notes**

**Added a bunch of Ocs? Checked.**

**Showed some more *family time goodness*? Check.**

**Added mysterious sub-plot? Check.**

**Explained why Naruto was unfazed of death? Check.**

**Hope you all enjoyed.**


End file.
